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Pokémon (anime)/Characters/Current Main Cast


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Ash Ketchum (Satoshi)

Troper, I CHOOSE YOU!


Voiced by: Rica Matsumoto (JP), Veronica Taylor (EN, 4Kids), Sarah Natochenny (EN, current)

The star of the series, Ash began his existence as the archetypal Idiot Hero. He won many of his early battles on dumb luck and/or some form of The Power of Friendship. As the series has gone on and on he has improved greatly in this regard, but his progression has more or less wrecked some of the dynamic he had with his supporting cast, as he no longer needs Misty and Brock to counterbalance his original inexperience. But hell...they're still his best friends.

Meowth: Aah, he's got that look in his eye!!

  • Big Brother Mentor: Sometimes to a Character of the Day, but most notably towards both May and Max - Comic Book Time aside, he was always ready to dispense some personal advice and assistance to the Petalburg siblings, and it's clear that both of them look up to him as a veteran trainer. Ash also seemed to take responsibility for their well-being: the first time May lost a Contest, he lamented that he should've spent more time teaching her, and during the time she pushed her Bulbasaur too hard (and lost for a second time), he was patient and forgiving even while she was acting like a brat. With Max, he seems to be an honourary big brother, since the boy is quick to point out Ash's lack of 'book smarts' (so to speak), yet whenever the party splits up, he and Max (more often than not) are teamed up.
  • Big Eater: Oh, boy. If there's one thing he loves as much as Pokémon and battling, it's food. This was also somewhat lampshaded in the mid-Advanced Generation episodes, where after a bunch of episodes where he's shown pigging out, he started to get a little chubby.
    • The one human who might outperform him in this category is May, though to be fair, wasting food is a Berserk Button for them both.
  • Big Word Shout: "PIKACHU!!!!!!!!"
  • Book Ends: The sighting of Ho-Oh during the original series.
  • A Boy And His Pikachu
  • Break the Cutie: On MANY occasions.
  • Brown Eyes
  • Butt Monkey: Especially in the Unova saga.
  • Character Tics: Flipping his hat from front to back, whenever he gets serious. Disappears in the transition to the AG saga, until the ninth movie. He finally does it again in the series in DP189.
    • And now he's doing it again in Best Wishes.
    • While rare, he's also prone to a pose that wouldn't look out of place in Kamen Rider.
  • Charm Point: His hat.
  • Chaste Hero: Ash is this trope.
  • Chick Magnet: Shipping aside, several girls have developed genuine feelings for him, not all of them human. Ash, however, remains totally oblivious with the exception mentioned above.
  • The Chosen One: Ash seems to be the go-to guy for any Legendary which needs a hero to help them. In addition, he's officially been this for the Lugia in Pokemon2000 (though this is dub-only), might be it for Ho-Oh given how many times he sees the damned phoenix, and for Azelf of the Lake Trio.
  • Clothing Damage: Ash's first wardrobe change was basically done for no particular storyline reason. His second one was because he pulled a Colossus Climb on Team Rocket's mecha at the beginning of the season and it exploded underneath him, leaving him rather unkempt.
  • Comic Book Time: Ash Ketchum will forever be 10 years old, as well as the other main characters being their own ages as well. However, as far as the Dub goes, the series has documented the passing of at least three years. Ash has noted a year's time passing between his first two visits to Viridian City, celebrated the anniversary of when Ash and Pikachu first started their journey during Johto (which would presumably be on the same day as Viridian City), and that a year had passed since he first met May.
  • Composite Character: He starts simply as the anime version of the hero of the original game, having inclusive one of his standard names. Starting with Johto, he started to act like the other game protagonists and in the more recent series, and uses clothes based on said characters.
  • Cooldown Hug: Ash was subject to this in the movies when his temper get the best of him (7 and 8 come to mind), and the one to cool him down was May.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices - In English, Japanese, and German (among others).
  • Curb Stomp Battle: His crushing loss to Paul in the 2 part episode where they have a full battle.
    • He himself unintentionally delivers one against the Hoenn gym leader Watson.
  • The Cutie: In the older episodes.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Had his moments of this in the older episodes.
  • Determinator: And HOW.
  • Demonic Possession: One episode of Battle Frontier had him possessed by the ancient King of Pokélantis.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In the Battle Frontier and later in the Sinnoh League. He was the only trainer shown who could defeat Tobias's Darkrai in the Sinnoh semifinals, and he took down Latios as well. Even though Ash lost 6 to 2 in the end, it's still much closer than anyone else got to beating Tobias in the tournament.
  • Disappeared Dad: Does anyone know him?
    • Was only mentioned once in the second episode, but afterwards...
    • He's alive. It's just that the writers didn't bother to develop him beyond saying that he's on his own journey. So unless they had a need to, we probably won't be seeing him.
  • The Ditz: At times he's pretty much Usagi Tsukino if she was a little boy.
  • Dragon Rider: Several times with Charizard, although there are instances when he rides other Dragon Pokémon.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite having pretty impressive stats when it comes to accomplishments, it's very rare for other characters to actually acknowledge this.
    • Case in point: Trip. Granted, he probably doesn't watch the other regions' Leagues, but still.
    • For one battle, this is actually averted. When he goes to the Battle Frontier and does battle with Tucker, he gets swarmed by press and/or paparazzi, and his numerous achievements are actively talked about.
  • Enemy Mine: With Paul in DP's first season finale...they ended up winning, but certainly not because they were working together!
    • Frequently happens in movies with Team Rocket; most of the time anyway...
  • Facial Markings: Those little zig-zags under his eyes.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Ash rarely catches pokemon and NEVER seems to win a major tournament.
  • Fingerless Gloves: Never leaves home without them.
  • Fingore: Family-friendly version: how he first met his Krabby, after the latter didn't take kindly to Ash's "shrimp" comment.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric, in every series.
  • Freudian Trio
    • The Kirk: During the Advanced Generation & Diamond and Pearl series.
    • The McCoy: During the Original & Best Wishes series.
  • Friend to All Children: "Here Comes the Trubbish Squad!" proved this.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: Ash is occasionally identified by characters of the day who saw him eat dirt during a televised tournament, but not often - even May and Dawn get recognized more often for winning random contests. Nobody ever seems to recognize Ash as the guy who smacked down two Legendaries in official Frontier matches and two more in the Sinnoh League semifinals on live television, or who saved the world every summer since 1998.
    • To be fair, the live television legendary beatings were recent, and the next region he went to was in a different country.
  • Hair Color Dissonance: under certain lighting, his hair is sometimes depicted as dark green.
  • Here We Go Again: Ash really cannot go a single region without having to be treated like a rookie again. Unova is the most apparent, where Ash is written into the plot as if someone who is new to Pokemon is just starting to get into the series. Having Iris berate him for it at every opportunity didn't help any.
    • It got better after a few episodes though, when he steadied down on the initial excitement and hyperactivity - case in point, when first trying to catch Snivy he threw the ball immediately, but not out of idiocy; rather, he'd tried to get her while she was distracted and after that failed, he subsequently fought her. His excitable nature in the series is pretty consistent, really, no matter how much he learns.
  • The Hero
  • Hero Ball: Team Rocket is supposedly "evil" to his eyes, yet, he helps them when they're in trouble.
  • Heroic BSOD: several throughout the series, the most notable was when he lost to Ritchie in the Indigo League.
    • Ash has a pretty huge BSOD moment again after a crushing 6-2 loss against Paul.
  • Hot-Blooded: For Arceus' sake, he's voiced by Rica Matsumoto in the Japanese version!
  • Idiot Hero: Gets smarter in regards to Pokemon training (until Unova sets him back), but he stays an idiot in other areas (arguably getting worse in them as the shows goes on.)
    • It's safer to say that he fluctuates - early Hoenn, for example, brushed off enough "Idiot" to the point of making him Genre Savvy. He also seems to generally get smarter as each series progresses - it's just that it gets reset each new series. This is probably Meta - an effort to make him more "relatable" to a new audience of children freshly entering the show.
  • Image Song: Mesaze Pokémon Master, Rivals, OK!, Challenger!, Spurt!, Type Wild!. High Touch counts for both him and Dawn.
    • Possibly the song Battle Frontier as well, although he doesn't sing it like the other songs.
  • In a Single Bound: Inexplicably, Ash can leap many times his own height.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: This from the fourth episode. The pun works better in the original version.
  • Interspecies Ship Tease: Ash's rather touchy-feely relationship with Pikachu aside, he's been crushed on by Chikorita (who later evolved into Bayleef), Aipom, and now Oshawott. Latias in one of the movies actually might have kissed him on the cheek in the end, making her tied (with the human Melody) for the furthest anyone's ever gotten with him throughout the entire series.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Most of them are Played for Laughs, especially when it comes to his own Pokémon being responsible for his misfortunes. This is at its finest at the beginning of the Lily of the Valley Conference, where all the Pokémon that he called up from Oak's lab greet him by...attacking him, one after another.
    • If the movies are taken into account, then to date he's been: Beaten up, electrocuted and burned countless times, hit by a chandelier, petrified at least once, half drowned twice (First in an episode of the original series, second in the Manaphy movie), eaten by a sentient tree (no really), dropped from a great height numerous times, and much, much more.
  • I See London: After losing to Sabrina for the first time, Sabrina's father showed him that guts aren't enough to beat someone with psychic powers-by telekinetically pulling his pants down and showing his white boxers.
    • A Corphish knocked Ash and his friends into a lake, and he got reduced to wearing his shirt, his hat, and his black and blue striped boxers. (crosses over with Hanging Our Clothes to Dry)
    • Often played with as Ash's mother's words of advice before leaving were to "change his you-know-whats every day."
  • Keet
  • The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: He gets his hat stolen by Mankey in season 1, and then several times by Aipom in seasons 9 & 10 (both are monkeys). The third time his hat gets stolen (in Season 14) a duck (Ducklett) steals it.
    • It was also kind of taken briefly by Snorunt in Season 8...except this turned out to be Snorunt's way of letting the others know he was OK and leading them to him.
  • Lethal Chef
  • MacGuffin Escort Mission: Tasked with delivering the GS Ball to Professor Ivy.
  • Made of Iron: He's survived stuff no normal 10 year old boy should be able to.
  • Magnetic Hero: Naturally, Ash draws a lot of attention from Pokémon who end up joining his team.
    • The more interesting extension is that the Pokémon he trains end up turning into natural leaders as well. Pidgeot is now head of a massive flock on Route 1. Bulbasaur is the lead peacekeeper at Oak's ranch. Squirtle started as the leader of a gang, and went back to that. Then there are the several times one of the team is caught by Team Rocket and isolated from the trainers, and proceeds to coordinate fellow detainees into a revolt. (Pikachu, Starly, etc.)
  • Meaningful/Punny Name: "Ketchum", anybody?
    • The dub of the second movie takes it one step further:

And the world shall turn to Ash.

  • Memento MacGuffin: Cutlery, a handkerchief and a fishing lure, one half of the Terracotta Ribbon and a Teddiursa carving, from Brock, Misty and May (two each from the girls), respectively. The latter four appear later in the series, while Brock's gift was important...for only one episode.
  • The Messiah: Even after Meowth betrays him, Ash says he'll always treasure their time together.
  • Momma's Boy: Don't screw with his mother around him. Just...don't.
  • Nice Guy: Well, his heart is bigger than all the regions AND the Orange Islands combined, so to speak.
  • Nice Hats
  • Oblivious to Love: In later seasons. For example, in the first season, he knows damn well that Butterfree is trying to court a mate in "Bye Bye Butterfree". In the most recent season, he is completely clueless that a Cottonee wants to do the same and thinks that it just "wants to make a best buddy".
  • Only One Name: Averted in the dub, played completely straight in the Japanese version.
  • Pals with Jesus: How many legendary Pokémon has he (and even his close friends) befriended? The most notable include the Creation Trio in Movies 10-12 (as well as Arceus), Lugia in the Orange Islands, and the Lake Trio especially Azelf, for whom he is The Chosen One.
  • Papa Wolf: Never hurt his friends, human or Pokémon. He even tends to go to more reckless lengths in order to save them when they're in danger.
  • Power Copying: Starting with the beginning of the Advance Generation series, whenever Ash sees someone use a move that's worth using, he decides to teach his Pokémon that move (starting with Iron Tail).
  • The Power of Friendship: He caught several Pokémon without having to fight. Saving their lives was enough for them.
  • Puppy Dog Eyes
  • Psychic Powers: Has the power of Aura.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Aside from his crossdressing episodes, there was one episode where he, along with Misty and Brock, wore identical Slowpoke costumes.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to all of his main series rival's blue.
  • Rescue Romance: one-sided canon: Girl of the Week Macy, Ash's first quasi-important opponent in the Johto League, fell for him hard when he saved her from a fall. On a platonic sense, this applies to some of his Pokémon as well.
  • Rule of Cool: The reason why Ash's Pokémon are capable of pulling so many cool maneuvers.
  • Running Gag: In the movies, his tendency to ram into things, mostly barriers.
    • If you're a girl that has a bike, never let it near him or Pikachu.
    • His badges (and hat) seem to get stolen one way or the other every region.
      • The badges weren't taken in Kanto (or the Orange Islands), but to be fair that was before the Running Gag was established.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the Manly Man to his male companions Brock, Tracey and Cilan (all definitely Sensitive Guys). With each of his 'primary' rivals (Gary, Paul & Trip) though, he's the Sensitive Guy.
  • Shonen Hair
  • Signature Move: Out of all of his improvised techniques, the Counter-Shield is the only one used with enough regularity to become a signature technique.
    • It's also worth mentioning that, even though Seismic Toss is frequently referred to as Charizard's signature finisher, he only uses it while Ash is in command (even in "Volcanic Panic").
  • Spirited Competitor
  • Talking to Himself: Veronica Taylor voiced him, his mom, and May.
    • I Am Not Ash: She seems to have encountered this sort of problem herself. Yet, she did enjoy her time as Ash, anyway, so...
  • This Loser Is You: Ash pretty much acts the way any little kid playing the games for the first time would act, but within the show's universe.
    • Admittedly, Ash actually has achieved quite a lot over the course of the series, it's just he's unfortunately a protagonist on a series that runs on both Comic Book Time and Always Someone Better.
  • To Be a Master
  • Too Dumb to Live: Quite often falls into this.
  • Trying Not to Cry: Ash releasing his Pokémon, leaving his long time friends (however that was just Brock and Misty), getting defeated by Gary in EP116 and Paul in DP132.
  • Tuckerization: Satoshi is the name of the head of Game Freak and creator of the games: Satoshi Tajiri.
  • Victory Pose: Whether it's winning an important battle or just capturing a new Pokémon. Lampshaded in his capture of Starly, when he feels inadequate pulling the Victory Pose off in Pikachu's absence.
  • Wild Mass Guessing: Just who is is father anyways?
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: Well congratulations Ash! you managed to make it to the Final Four in the Sinnoh League, scored a decisive victory against your arc-long rival, and even managed to KO Tobias' Darkrai...Oh wait, he has a Latios too. Sucks for you.
    • Though to be fair, Ash considers Tobias a Worthy Opponent. I mean, how often do you get to face down a trainer with not one, but two legendaries under their wing?


Ash's Pikachu

Voiced by: Ikue Ohtani

Ash's faithful partner Pokémon. Unlike most of its species, Ash's Pikachu refuses to stay cooped up inside its Poké Ball for an extended period of time. Tropes involving Ash's Pikachu include:

  • Achilles in His Tent: Mostly from the first season, the most blatant example being Ash's Gym battle with Misty; Pikachu's excuse was allegedly because he doesn't want to fight a friend.
    • Played for laughs in "The Flame Pokémon-Athon!" when Ash decided to sic him against a stampede of Tauros; Pikachu pretended to go to sleep instead.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Like most Pokémon, Pikachu's gender. "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before" finally confirms that Pikachu is male.
  • Art Evolution: Compare his character pic above with the picture in Ridiculously Cute Critter below.
  • Badass Adorable: Oh yes.
  • Badly-Battered Babysitter: Mostly regarding Togepi, but he becomes this again when Dawn's Pokémon are concerned.
  • Bag of Spilling: Along with his trainer, Pikachu's competence seems to reset every time they enter a new region. The most egregious example of this case would be Pikachu losing to Trip's starter pokemon Snivy who hadn't fought a single battle in its life at the beginning of BW arc after tying with a Latios at the end of DP arc.
    • To be fair, both Ash and Pikachu were caught off-guard by his inability to use Electric attacks (thanks to Zekrom), which caused them to lose their nerve - strength and skill means nothing if you aren't at the top of your game. It's also possible that their having beaten that Latios meant that Trip's status as a newbie them overconfident, something which shows up in Ash and Trip's second battle (there, Trip wins not because of level, but because he has a much better strategy in place and kept his cool, which Ash didn't). After the latter battle, the "reset" is mostly negated.
  • Balloon Belly: EP171, DP055 and DP098
  • Berserk Button: Sure, there's the thing about protecting his friends, but BW50(?) showed that if you betray his trust, HE.WILL.GET.P*SSED OFF.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Ordinarily, Pikachu's fairly docile and one of Ash's more patient Mons. However, there's a limit to that patience. If you dare attack it, particularly while its back is turned, all bets are officially off. Even Bulbasaur and Squirtle freeze in fear at an angered Pikachu.
  • Blue with Shock: See this picture.
    • More like Blue with Food Poisoning. Ash's other Pokémon have similar reactions to May's purple Pokéblocks.
    • Ikue Ohtani's voice work really sells it, too: (munching) "Pika, pika...pecch!!"
  • The Big Guy: In every series' Five-Man Band, except Diamond & Pearl.
  • Brought Down to Normal/Strong as They Need to Be
  • Cassandra Truth: Regarding Team Rocket's Meowth.
  • Cast from Hit Points: Knows Volt Tackle.
    • As of Best Wishes, he seems to have forgotten it (as per Game Mechanics) to learn Electro Ball, but we'll see.
  • Celibate Hero: seems to feel nothing else but embarrassment about Buneary's attraction to him.
  • Characterization Marches On: His enmity towards his evolved form Raichu. Aside from an early DP episode, this kind of behavior was never adhered to again when they meet other Raichu.
    • It seems Pikachu doesn't hate all Raichu in general - unlike Tyson's Meowth in Advanced Generation, who was positively murderous towards any Persian he saw - but rather that he gets pissed when they think they're stronger than him just because they're his evolved form. He was quite kind to the Raichu that Ash was trying to bond with during the Pokémon Summer Academy arc. Not all Pokémon refuse evolution out of spite for their evolved forms after all.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Volt Tail, first seen in "Pika and Goliath", later reused as the finishing blow against Tobias' Latios.
  • Death Glare: Knows Leer.
    • He's also capable of pretty powerful regular ones. Special note goes to the one Meowth receives in BW050.
  • Determinator: Far more so in the early seasons, when it had to work to get all-powerful.
  • Epileptic Flashing Lights: he's the cause of it in the infamous Electric Soldier Porygon episode.
  • Extra Ore Dinary: Knows Iron Tail.
  • Foil: To Ash, of course. It's a lot more prominent in the earlier seasons, when Pikachu would frequently need to step in to prevent Ash from going clear off the deep end (it's perhaps because Ash has matured somewhat over the course of the series that the contrast is less obvious in more recent episodes), but even to this day it's clear that Pikachu is much more reasonable and level-headed than his Trainer, and he's not above reproachful glares and exasperated sighs (or, y'know, electrocution) when the humans around him get a little too stupid for their own good.
    • Also with Dawn's Piplup during the Diamond & Pearl saga.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble
    • Sanguine: Original series
    • Supine (tears): Advance Generation
    • Phlegmatic II: Diamond & Pearl and Best Wishes.
  • Funny Background Event: Usually the source of it in the early series (with the most famous being his association with ketchup), but can still pop up from time to time.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: A running gag in the earliest episodes is Pikachu getting pissed off and electrocuting people, usually Ash, for the slightest indiscretion.
  • Head Pet/Parrot Pet Position: Changes between each position from time to time.
  • The Hero: Default leader if the group is currently devoid of humans. Generally this to each team of Ash's Pokemon in whichever region.
    • Big Good: Became this during the DP and BW series where Chimchar and Oshawott are The Heroes respectively.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Ash and he are inseparable.
    • He also has this kind of dynamic with Piplup in the DP saga.
  • Hot-Blooded: He's more rational than Ash, but still loves the head-on approach and the battling all the same.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: His learning of Iron Tail gave him the capability to pull out this.
  • Interspecies Romance: Not all the way to Bayleef's level, but every so often he starts making eyes at human females - which amusingly makes him far more aware than his own trainer!
    • Not to mention that he was the target of affection of two other mons; while one (Magnemite) was only attracted simply because of Pikachu's "electric fever", the second one (Buneary) was overly blatant.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: Electro Ball.
  • Killer Rabbit: Ash has warned a few people that this is a Pokémon that can shock in a moment's notice, though Pikachu liked Misty and Ritchie owns a Pikachu himself nicknamed Sparky.
  • The Lancer: During the AG and DP Series.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Was something of a Fragile Speedster to start off with, but after learning Iron Tail and Volt Tackle he became a straight up bruiser.
  • Mirror Boss: His final battle in the Hoenn League has him fighting a Meowth that knows most of the same moves that he has.
  • Only Sane Pokémon: Not so much at first, but as time draws on it becomes rather obvious he's more level-headed than the other Pokémon, and even trainers.
    • Not So Above It All: Many an occasion shows he can be just as hot-blooded, if not moreso, than his trainer.
  • Papa Wolf: Hurt Togepi? BAD idea.
  • Properly Paranoid: Of Meowth when he temporarily joins the group in BW.
  • Psycho Electro: When possessed by Groudon.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Just look at it!
  • Rocket Punch: in "The Punchy Pokémon", although he was just faking one.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size
  • Shock and Awe: The "only" Electric type in the main team until Dawn captured a Pachirisu.
  • Signature Move: The "Thunder" series of attacks, and later, Volt Tackle. In fact, the latter was an actual exclusive for Pikachu's species as a whole.
  • Silent Snarker: Okay, not quite silent, but in the earlier episodes Pikachu seemed to be quite aware of Ash's Idiot Hero tendencies.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: When possessed by Groudon; Pikachu's never been scarier.
  • Super Speed: First showcased in the Vermillion Gym and stayed that way since. It even enabled him to learn Volt Tackle!
  • Surrounded By Idiotic Pokémon: Almost all of the Pokémon have some sort of quirk that makes Pikachu look like the Only Sane Man by comparison. Not to say he doesn't do some dumb stuff himself...
  • Team Dad: Pikachu is often trying real hard to guide & care for all the younger (or just less experienced) Pokémon, and is highly protective of them - from babies like Togepi, to young children like Axew, to even his buddy Piplup. In fact, it's likely part of the reason he was so infuriated by Meowth's reveal as a Heel Face Mole in BW050.
  • Third Option Adaptation: Former Trope Namer. Instead of Ash choosing a starter like in the games, he was given Pikachu, and was able to obtain the starters later.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Learning Agility and Quick Attack in "Electric Shock Showdown", for starters.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Ketchup.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Several times, but there was one occasion where it was actually used to his advantage: Applied Phlebotinum caused Pikachu to strike a fever, which also gave him an insane power-up, leading to Ash's easy victory over Wattson.


Ash's Other Pokémon (Current Team)

All of Them (Unova Region):

  • Ambiguous Gender: Averted with most of the Unova team thus far: Snivy, which Ash eventually catches, uses Attract on Pikachu successfully, meaning it's female. It also Attracts Oshawott and Tepig, making them male as well. Ash counters this strategy with Pidove, confirming it as female. This is also unique for being the first time Ash has had two confirmed female team members. His Scraggy, Swadloon-Leavanny, Palpitoad and Krokorok were later confirmed male, leaving Boldore as the only exception.
  • Badass Adorable/Ridiculously Cute Critter: Majority of his team.
  • Badass Crew
  • Berserk Button: Pretty much goes for ANY of Ash's Pokémon. Attack Ash directly and his Pokémon will beat the crap out of you (unless you have more powerful Pokémon for protection, of course).
  • Five-Man Band (so far):
  • Put on a Bus: Finally averted, as Ash rotates his team during Unova (though he usually keeps the Starters on). This is majorly helpful in avoiding Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
  • Reset Button: Worth noting that this time, he's leaving his excess team members with Professor Juniper, rather than Professor Oak.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Whenever one of them evolves.
  • True Companions

Pidove-Tranquill-Unfezant (Mamepato-Hatoboh-Kenhallow)

Oshawott (Mijumaru)

Tepig-Pignite (Pokabu-Chaoboo)

  • All Animals Are Dogs: Tepig acts much more like a puppy compared to the piglet that he actually is.
  • Badass Adorable
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Pignite's secondary type.
  • Bastard Boyfriend: Tepig's past trainer abused and abandoned him, and yet Tepig runs to him like he wasn't tied to a pole and starved because of the Trainer and like Ash is not even there, typical of a girl that sees the abusive ex that she still has feelings for. When Tepig realizes his trainer doesn't want him, he is noticeably depressed to the point where he cannot battle. He gets better.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Tepig, easily the most mild-mannered of Ash's Unova team, didn't take too kindly to a Connoisseur's evaluation on him. In fact, that same Connoisseur managed to tick off the entire team.
  • Brick Joke: It's commonly pointed out that all fire-types in Ash's team already have Flamethrower in their arsenal even before they join Ash; Tepig is the only exception. Just wait 45+ episodes or so...
  • Call Back: His former trainer wants Tepig (now a Pignite) to come back to his team after seeing his strength, only for Pignite to rebuke the proposal with a Flamethrower. That sounds awfully familiar...
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His backstory mirrors those of Charmander and Chimchar.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After he defeats his former trainer in a battle, said Jerkass asks him to rejoin his team to become stronger. Pignite looks to be seriously considering it, but having seen what sort of person Suwama really is he responds by scorching his head with Flamethrower before standing proudly by Ash's side.
  • Eleventh-Hour Superpower: Learns Flamethrower in time to use it in the escape from Team Rocket in BW050.
  • Messy Pig
  • Oh Crap: Tepig's reaction when Ash caught him trying to eat the Pokémon food with the rope around his snout (he was still a wild Pokémon at the time).
  • Playing with Fire
  • Took a Level in Badass: When he learned Flamethrower in the Season 14 finale.
    • Again during the double-battle with his former trainer - after Snivy is knocked out, he gathers the courage to fight back, evolves, and uses his newly-learned Fire Pledge to destroy Emboar and Heatmor. Epic.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: He seemed to be crushed by his early losses under Ash, and Lenora confirmed that Tepig really wants to please Ash. Given his previous trainer ditched him after a single loss, this is understandable. And BW077 reveals he still loves his ex-trainer!
    • It's so bad he was unhappy about tying with Trip's Vanillite.
    • When you learn why this is so, it's worse - Suwama abandoned him under the pretence of it being for his own good, when in reality he does it, repeatedly, just so the Pokémon he ditches don't follow him. Until he overcomes this, Tepig is so scared that Ash might abandon him "for his own good" that he couldn't bear the thought of losing, especially if he had a type advantage.

Snivy (Tsutarja)

  • Affirmative Action Girl: Her capture marks the first time Ash has definitely had more than one female Pokémon on his current team.
  • At Vine Whip's Length: Snivy's first meeting with Scraggy.
  • Badass Adorable: Sure she's mostly a Lady of War, but she's also pretty adorable in her own right.
  • Cool Big Sis: Seems to be her role in the Unova team, especially when she's saving one of the other Pokémon. That is, when she's not being a Sugar and Ice Girl.
  • Designated Girl Fight: Is starting to have a lot of this with Iris' Emolga.
  • Emotion Bomb: Knows Attract.
  • Graceful Loser: When Ash finally beats her, she gives a small smile as his Pokéball sucks her in.
  • Green Thumb
  • I Fight for the Strongest Side: It's implied that Snivy abandoned her trainer because she deemed him/her too weak.
    • This is somewhat more complex in the original Japanese version: Snivy's abandonment actually came from the trainer him/herself, due to her defiance of his/her orders. Cilan notes that Snivy as a whole don't obey unworthy trainers, but the trainer's lack of patience and care (qualities Snivy found in Ash) led to what we see on-screen.
  • It Only Works Once: In Ash's third rival battle with Trip, the latter manages to find a way to counter Snivy's Attract that trounced Trip's Servine before.
  • Lady of War: Quite graceful for a Pokémon.
  • Laser Blade: Knows Leaf Blade.
  • Little Miss Badass
  • Not Quite Flight: She uses Leaf Storm as a method of flight, to escape her pursuers.
  • Petal Power: Knows Leaf Storm.
  • The Rival: Seems to be developing one with Emolga. Fanon also likes to assume that Trip's Servine is also her rival.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality
  • Team Mom: Certainly serves as one of these to the Pokemon on the team. This reaches its apex in BW57, where Snivy spends her time wearily rescuing the baby Pokemon of the group. Crosses over into full on Mama Bear mode when Gothita threatens to put the rest of the Pokemon in danger; a swift sharp Vine Whip to the backside puts Gothita down immediately.
  • Whip It Good: Knows Vine Whip.

Scraggy (Zuruggu)

Sewaddle-Swadloon-Leavanny (Kurumiru-Kurumayu-Hahakomori)

Palpitoad (Gamagaru)

  • Call Back: Another Delinquent gang leader, not unlike Squirtle, Muk, and Taillow before it.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: At first it seems like Palpitoad is having trouble with Burgundy's Stoutland's electric attacks (which, of course, he was actually immune to), but he was just acting and proceeded to kick Stoutland's ass.
    • Averted in his debut though, where he was shown to be a powerful battler.
    • He beat Elesa's Zebstrika, a Pokémon that had swept Bianca's ENTIRE TEAM in the previous episode. Not bad.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Secondary type (Ground).
  • Eleventh-Hour Ranger: Even Ash's friends were surprised by his appearance in the Don Battle tornament, but he did a fine job.
  • Frogs and Toads
  • Making a Splash: Primary type.
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: Knows Supersonic.
  • Out of Focus: He's yet to appear at all barring the above battles.
  • Overly Long Tongue

Roggenrola-Boldore (Dangoro-Gantle)

Krokorok (Waruvile)

  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Despite his pride (and genuine strength), he's more likely to lose than not in earlier episodes. When he does finally win in BW081, he used wits instead of raw strength to defeat Brycen's Beartic.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center
  • Casting a Shadow: Secondary type.
  • Combat Pragmatist
  • Cool Shades: Unlike Squirtle's - which put more emphasis on him being a total Badass - if Krokorok doesn't have his shades on, he becomes cowardly and scared.
  • Cowardly Lion: Without the glasses.
  • Dark Is Not Evil
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Primary type (Ground).
  • The Gump: Followed the group around Unova for most of Best Wishes prior to being captured, causing the problems with the Klinklang in Chargestone Cave and appearing at the Club Battle tournament, in the Battle Subway and outside the Driftveil Gym. His reason? So he could fight Pikachu.
  • Mon Bites Mon: Knows Bite and Crunch.
  • Poor Communication Kills/Cassandra Truth: In his first appearance he was and the other Sandile were trying to get everyone away from the sand baths due to the upcoming geysers that would destroy them, but because the humans couldn't understand his warnings he had to resort to force to keep everyone safe.
  • The Rival: To Pikachu.
  • Tender Tears: Despite seeming aggressive and boastful, Krokorok's a real softie at heart who shamelessly subverts Men Don't Cry.

Iris

Voiced by: Aoi Yuki (JP), Eileen Stevens (EN)

New girl for Best Wishes/Black and White. She is basically described as an outgoing Jungle Girl. She has a Dragon Type Pokémon with her named Axew, which tends to camp in her hair. She is apparently skilled at being in the outdoors.

  • Action Girl
  • Actor Allusion: During BW061 and BW062, she was forced to play the role of a Miko who prayed for Landorus to come and save everyone on the island from Tornadus and Thunderus. The scene plays out like a certain girl from a certain anime.
  • Agent Mulder
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny
  • Ambiguously Brown: Interestingly, her offical artwork from the games gives her a darker skintone than shown in the games and anime.
  • Badass Adorable: By her appearance, she looks to be the youngest of all the female travel companions and can back things up being an Action Girl and all.
  • Badass Normal: Aside from her vine swinging and tree climbing, we get to see that before she had any Pokémon, she caught Drilbur by physically fighting him herself.
  • Break the Haughty/Cutie: Having developed an ego after winning 99 consecutive battles, challenging Drayden knocked Iris down a peg or two.
  • Catch Phrase: To Ash and Georgia, "You're such a kid."
    • To Ash, it's like a sister teasing a brother. To Georgia, it's part of their rivalry, though it doesn't really phase Georgia.
  • Characterization Marches On: Originally a very extreme, hyperactive Jerkass. But after she officially decided to join Ash in travelling, these have been greatly toned down to make her more of a Cloudcuckoolander, comical Ted Baxter (her "such a kid" moments with Ash are now akin to family squabbling than actual insults), and Agent Mulder in contrast with Cilan's Agent Scully.
  • The Chick: Of the "Best Wishes" series' Five-Man Band.
  • Child Prodigy: She didn't have anyone teach her how to battle. As a result, she learned with her Drilbur on how to fight on her own as well as learn enough battle skills to defeat 99 trainers before losing to Drayden and causing her Excadrill to ignore her shortly afterward. This might be the reason for her Ted Baxter attitude at the start of the series.
  • Cuteness Proximity: From her first meeting with Ash: *sees Pikachu* "Oh, Pikachu? *glomps* AAAHH!! KAWAIIIIIII!!!" *hugs Pikachu half to death*
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Double Subverted! She seems at first to be a poor battler, but that's only because at the point her Pokémon were either too weak, too lazy, or (apparently) disobedient. It turns out that she once got 99 wins in a row using only Drilbur. Now that Axew has become stronger and she has made up with Excadrill, she's showing signs of her former competency.
  • Deadpan Snarker: In spades.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Not Iris herself, but her character in Luke's film "The Legend of the Pokemon Knight" is the Princess Incognito masquerading as the 'Dragon Master' (an In-universe Throw It In). Nonetheless, Iris is herself quite flattered by Meowth calling her a 'princess' in BW045.
  • Fan Service: Averted for the most part, unlike Dawn and May she actually looks like she is around 10. Her outfit is less revealing too.
    • She makes up for it with in her sexy bathing suit - which debuted in episode 3, much earlier than any of the other three girls' - and her strange poses.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Sanguine.
  • Genki Girl: Very, very genki at times.
  • Granola Girl: Vegetarian who only ate raw fruits and vegetables prior to meeting Cilan.
  • Hammerspace Hair
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Eileen Stevens has done other voices on the show like Lyra (and her role of Zorua in Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions premiered the week before BW debuted), but her most famous role is Bellandy from Ah! My Goddess.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Gets on Ash for acting inexperienced at battling, but it's later revealed she's not so hot herself.
    • A later example is when they were trying out very spicy foods made by Cilan. Iris calls Ash out on his complaining about the food, when she was having trouble eating it herself (evidenced by Ocular Gushers and sweating).
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me: Almost towards any Pokémon of the week originally before this role was given to Bianca.
  • Improbable Hairstyle
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be condescending, hypocritical and inconsiderate (especially with Cuteness Proximity in play), not to mention her snarkiness. She's also sweet-natured (much of the time), compassionate and caring to her friends (whether she admits it or not), and has a strong sense of fair play and justice (even as a child, her meeting with Drilbur was due to her wanting to punish him for stealing another Pokemon's food, yet she ended up saving his life and bonding with him very firmly).
  • The Kirk
  • The Lancer: Of the "Best Wishes" series' Five-Man Band.
  • Little Miss Badass: She leaps up trees like she's been training in Konoha, and has no problems jumping down a long distance and swinging on vines. There's also a running joke that when something bad is coming at the group, it'll happen to Ash and Cilan, but Iris will jump or move out of the way with agility, such as when children were throwing mud balls at them or when Bianca tripped and ran over the group.
    • And, of course, she trains Dragon-types.
    • As a child, she won 99 battles in a row with just a Drilbur.
  • Little Miss Snarker: Considering the type of people she's travelling with...
  • The Medic
  • The Mentor: Parodied when she plays the 'Legendary Dragon Master' in Luke's film, in BW040.
  • My Beloved Smother/Mama Bear: to Axew.
  • Not So Different / Worthy Opponent: To her rival Georgia.
  • Plucky Girl: As a child, she never gave up on her goal especially when it came to defeating and later befriending Drilbur. However, she loses it almost instantly when she loses to Drayden and her Excadrill no longer listened to her. This clearly shows in her first appearance in the series.
  • Raised by Pokémon: In the flashback, she is shown to be playing with Pokémon and doesn't seem to have a family as she sees the Pokémon as family, friends and teachers for how to battle.
  • Rapunzel Hair: To the point where she can store a Pokémon in it.
  • Shorttank
  • Small Name, Big Ego: She knows what she's doing, don't question her!
    • However, this can be subverted if you look at Taught By Experience and Raised by Pokémon where this ego can come from not learning any manners for those that are stronger than her as well as living with Pokémon and winning her first 99 battles in a row.
      • Turns up a lot in her arguments against Georgia, further solidifying that they are Not So Different.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Though their personalities are distinct, her role is quite similar to Misty's - even moreso than the comparison between Cilan and Brock.
    • To wit: both are - or otherwise connected to, a Gym Leader; both want to master a specific Pokémon type; both often function as the Only Sane Woman of their group, acting more mature than Ash (if somewhat flawed about it); and finally, both have a crippling fear of an entire Pokémon 'Type'.
  • Taught By Experience: Iris clearly states to Drayden that her training experience comes from training in the forests all of her life. As a result, she has been able to win 99 battles in a row.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Bianca's Girly Girl.
  • Tsundere: She's a Type B.
  • Up to Eleven: Seems to be her operating mode. She thinks Pikachu's cute, so she nearly strangles him with huggles; Ash picks an apple, she "helps" by dropping a couple of bushels on him. She mellows out with time.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: A mild Type 1 with Ash and Cilan. While it's clear they're all friends, she often calls their Idiot Hero/Large Ham tendencies out for being stupid or silly, while they have no problem arguing back.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Is absolutely terrified of Ice types. This first showed up with one of the sweetest and least threatening of them all.
  • Wild Hair: That hair is VERY long, don't you think. Also taken a bit literally.
  • Why Did It Have To Be Ice Type Pokémon: Since Ice beats Dragons, and Iris has brought herself up to BE like a Dragon Pokémon, not just a trainer of them.
    • Which brings to question how will she react to Kyurem.
  • You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Iris's Pokémon

  • Freudian Trio:
  • Poor Predictable Rock: Averted, most likely because Dragon-types are one of the rarest (second only to Ghost and that's only when counting Legendary Pokémon). Excadrill was also her first Pokémon, though Axew really kind of qualifies as her 'Starter'

Axew (Kibago)

  • Big Brother Instinct: Possibly towards Ash's Scraggy — he was very happy to have someone younger to look after.
  • Dude in Distress: And unlike Togepi, he's aware of the distress.
  • Head Pet: He likes to hide in Iris' ginormous hair.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Increasingly so with Ash's Scraggy. The two are friendly enough and equal enough that they clearly have a very close relationship, to the extent that Axew has nightmares about Scraggy leaving the group. During Scraggy's Donamite battle in BW072, he watches Scraggy use Focus Blast with glistening eyes.
  • I Just Want to Be Badass: His dream was revealed to be to evolve to its final stage, Haxorus. However, considering he couldn't even defeat a newborn Pokémon, he evidently has a-ways to go. Subverted as of BW032 where Axew is able to dodge Scraggy's attack and defeat it with Dragon Rage.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons
  • Took a Level in Badass: Upon finally mastering Dragon Rage.
    • Later on in BW044, Axew learns Outrage and beats the crap out of Luke's Golett.
  • Nice Guy: Very mellow compared to Iris' other Pokémon, of course there was that one time he fought with Pikachu because a Darumaka had stolen his food and that other time where he accidentally beans both Oshawott and Pansage in the head with maracas, causing a fight between them and Pikachu.
  • Our Dragons Are Different
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When he uses Outrage, his eyes glow red as he beats the opponent up.
    • Of course, he has red eyes to begin with.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Even before mastering Dragon Rage; as a matter of fact, he can cause a lot of damage because he couldn't use it properly.
  • Tagalong Kid: His position in the Five-Man Band - but then, he was a day old when Iris first obtained him. He's steadily getting a lot stronger though
  • Wimp Fight: The sparring matches between Axew and Ash's Scraggy. Subverted later on as Axew starts holding his own in battle.

Drilbur-Excadrill (Mogurew-Doryuzu)

  • Badass: 99 victories in a row alongside Iris, and their only recorded losses to date are against Drayden and Georgia (and in the second, he wasn't even listening to Iris).
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Knows Focus Blast.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Worse than Emolga at this; he wouldn't take any of Iris' attitude and outright refused to fight at first. That said, when Scolipede knocked it aside, he wrecked that shit and went right back to sleep afterwards. Now if Iris can actually command that.
    • Averted as of "Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!". Excadrill's reasons for not listening to Iris were due to his thoughts of being a failure to her.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Primary type (Ground).
  • Extra Ore Dinary: Secondary type.
  • I Owe You My Life: Why he bonded with Iris initially.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Excadrill is a huge softie and actually disobeyed Iris because it didn't want to let her down.
  • Keet: As Drilbur.
  • My Greatest Failure: In a flashback during "Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!", it's revealed that after losing a battle against Drayden, Excadrill feels that he has failed Iris as a Pokémon. This is also the reason his refused to listen to her in fear that he'll fail her again.
  • Spam Attack: Formerly knew Fury Swipes.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality: As Excadrill - before evolving, he was more openly emotional.
  • This Is a Drill
  • Third Option Adaptation: Was Iris's starter as a Drilbur, or at least the first Pokémon that she considered hers.
  • Wolverine Claws: Knows Metal Claw.
  • The Worf Effect: He was utterly demolished in the Donamite in order to reinforce what a beast Masaomi's Throh is.

Emolga (Emonga)

Cilan (Dent)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (JP), Jason Griffith (EN)

First appeared next to Iris as a silhouette. He is a Pokémon Connoisseur. He's also one-third of the first Gym Leader trio in Unova, focusing on the Grass type.

  • The Ace: Played with. He's really good at many things from battling, evaluating, cooking, fishing, detective work and acting. He might as well be one unless you go for Alternative Character Interpretation and he's a Broken Ace.
  • Actor Allusion: In BW044, Cilan performs a "Tasting Time" duet with Burgundy. He is shown with a rose and acting very fabulous...sounds like he went Tamaki on us.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Inverted -- the anime simplified his design and made him look a little childish. Most fans think he still looks pretty good though.
  • Adorkable
  • Agent Peacock: More fabulous than feminine, but very, very fabulous.
  • Agent Scully: In the museum episode.
  • Ambiguously Gay or Camp Straight: Or maybe bisexual. We honestly have no idea.
    • Maybe he's asexual?
  • Always Camp: Bi, straight, gay, asexual...whatever the case may be, Cilan will always be fabulous.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Keeps coming up with "scientific" explanations for the occurances at the Nacrene Museum, without considering the possibility of a Ghost Pokémon.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: His job is to evaluate the relationship between trainers and their Pokémon. He is also an excellent strategist in battle.
  • Badass Normal: At least when it comes to fishing. He caught Stunfisk without using any Pokémon!
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: With a matching green bowtie!
  • Beware the Nice Ones: He has shown shades of a darker personality in a few episodes. Just ask Burgundy, who suffered a Humble Pie from him. Most of the time, it's played for laughs.
  • Bishie Sparkle
  • Bishonen
  • Cassandra Truth: Regarding the Purrloin in "Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky?".
  • Catch Phrase: "It's ______ time!"
  • Chick Magnet
  • Curb Stomp Battle: After he loses to Ash, almost all of Cilan's battle after that are one sided on his side. He easily destroyed Burgundy and her team without taking any damage and demolished Trip's Gurdurr during the Don Battle tournament.
    • He then had his record broken by Luke, due to his own fault of giving the up-and-comer too much advice and trying to troll him with a Stunfisk in a one vs. one Pokemon match instead of using his other more experienced Pokemon. It Got Worse when he went up against Skyla.
  • Curtains Match the Window
  • Cute and Psycho: Possibly. While he's normally a nice, calm person (barring his Large Ham antics), he's shown some signs of being unstable or crazy, particularly in battle or when his cooking is ruined.
    • Also giving free badges or denying badges to multiple trainers is a great way to set him off.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: It's hidden beneath the layers of Ambiguously Gay and Bishonen, but this guy is a very competent battler indeed; ask Burgundy, who got destroyed by Dwebble and Pansage, with no meaningful damage done to either of them. He was downright toying with her Sawsbuck before the finishing blow. He's not a Gym Leader for nothing.
    • And to add to that, he caught Stunfisk using only his fishing rod. He's just that Badass.
    • It just keeps piling up, what with Dwebble demolishing Trip's Gurdurr.
  • Elemental Hair: Played straight with his resemblance to his signature Pokémon, Pansage; subverted later in that he hasn't caught anymore Grass types (yet).
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Cilan seems to get the attention of men as well.
  • Evil Is Hammy: He expresses this philosophy when playing the villain in Luke's movie.
  • Evil Laugh: In Burgundy's Imagine Spot in Episode 19.
  • Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: He spends a lot of time during battles flamboyantly explaining his strategies (as well as simply talking about how good his Pokemon are). Sometimes this backfires on him, as quite a few of the individual battles he has lost he could have potentially won had he not spent so much time talking and allowed his opponent to come up with a counterattack.
  • Flat Earth Atheist: When a Yamask was haunting the Nacrene Museum, Cilan refused to believe so, coming up with scientific explanations for metal to be floating through glass. Considering his partner is a monkey that can use the power of the sun, it makes little sense he wouldn't be more open-minded.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic.
  • Freudian Trio:
  • Gratuitous English: "IT'S TASTING TIME!"
    • He'll say "good taste" when catching a Pokémon.
  • Heroic BSOD: A minor one at the end of BW069 when he loses to Skyla. He was fully expecting to kick her ass and teach her a lesson about giving gym badges to trainers when they didn't even battle her, but he didn't because he let his own rage and overconfidence get the better of him, making the loss that much more devastating.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Dent would like you to know that he is a Gundam (made even funnier when the gang later meets Burgh) and a Person of Mass Destruction.
  • Hidden Depths: Who would have thought that the camp Team Chef would be a science geek who's a big fan of UFOs?
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: His overconfidence and hamminess contributed to all of his onscreen losses so far.
  • Large Ham: Occasionally becomes this when he gets to showcase his skills. Can be extreme even for this series.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: "It's tasting time!"
    • This actually backfires on him in the Donamite battle though, where he gets a non-literal Talk to the Fist while setting up his evaluation.
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • Nice Guy: Most of the time.
  • Nice Hat: His Detective and Conductor hats.
  • Noodle Incident: He seems to have had a bad experience with a Purrloin in the past, but refuses to go into detail.
  • Rail Enthusiast: Trains are one of the many big things he's enthusiastic about.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: One of each to his brothers:
    • Red: To Cress' blue.
    • Blue: To Chili's red.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: In "Scare at the Litwick Mansion".
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Ash, and Stephan if the latter is present.
  • Serious Business: He can get a little passionate about anything he's a Connoisseur of.
  • Shirtless Scene: Already in "Minccino -- Neat and Tidy!"
  • Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Early on in the season's American advertising, no advertisements made any indication that he would be joining the group.
  • Skintone Sclerae: One of three important characters in the franchise to have this (the other two are Lenora's husband Hawes and Stephan).
  • The Smart Guy: Of the "Best Wishes" series' Five-Man Band.
  • Stealth Mentor: Toward Burgundy; he seems keen on actually helping her grow stronger, though she doesn't realize this.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Although having a different personality, he fills the same role as Brock.
  • Team Chef: And ends up being a Supreme Chef.
  • Uncatty Resemblance: To Pansage. They even have similar personalities.
  • Unstoppable Rage: If Cilan doesn't agree with your methods as a Gym Leader, he is damn well going to let you know about it. When he finds out Skyla gives out badges without battling, he gets very angry indeed; getting right up in her face, challenging her to a full gym battle and nearly crushing one of his Pokéballs in rage. Unfortunately, this rage means he doesn't use his head like he usually does, and he ends up losing pretty badly.
    • Someone should introduce him to Volkner some time...
  • The Villain Makes the Plot: A believer in it, if BW40 is anything to go by.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Ash is horrified when he actually agrees to Burgundy's bet that if he loses against her, all of Ash's Pokémon will be replaced.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: He has to cosplay as Elesa in an episode.
  • Why Did It Have To Be Ghosts: Zigzagged. He'll try to explain supernatural activities with logic, but once this fails he's usually the first to freak out. However, he only seems to be afraid of poltergeists, and will calm down if he realises that the happenings are caused by Ghost Pokémon.

Cilan's Pokémon

Pansage (Yanappu)

Dwebble-Crustle (Ishizumai-Iwaparesu)

Stunfisk (Maggyo)

Team Rocket

The main villains of the series, Jessie, James, and Meowth are always planning up a way to capture Ash's Pikachu, who they have deemed to be exceptionally special, strong, and worthy of giving as a gift to their boss, Giovanni. Originally, they usually worked as a stand-alone branch of Team Rocket. This even lead Giovanni to forget that they were members of the crime organization to begin with! At the end of Diamond and Pearl, however, he takes notice of them again, and gives them a special mission in the Unova region. Since then, the trio have become far more competent, and are usually involved in bigger and more elaborate schemes masterminded by some high-ranking Team Rocket member. For the most part, the "capture Pikachu" objective has taken a backseat to their larger plans, but old habits die hard...

The Team Rocket trio exhibits the following tropes:

  • Art Evolution: They don't get away untouched from this in Best Wishes. In addition to the art change hitting Ash, Jessie and James got black outfits due to their promotion. They also have noticeably different character models even when they switch back to wearing white outfits.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Thier usual pose when reciting their motto.
  • Balloon Belly: Team Rocket falls on hard times quite often, and usually lament over not having enough money to afford a decent meal. You can be sure that when they get the chance to stuff themselves full, THEY REALLY STUFF THEMSELVES FULL!
  • Boisterous Weakling: Par the odd Not So Harmless streak, the team often act as this, they have big mouths, but tend to lose nearly every battle they take part in. Meowth may be most noteworthy due to actually being a Pokemon, one of the most loudmouthed, AND weakest in the show at that.
  • Breaking the Fellowship: Several times, although it never lasted a single episode.
    • In BW, Meowth claims to have been fired and joins Ash's group for 5 episodes before doublecrossing them.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: The dub loves to do this from time to time. They *ALWAYS* break it in the movies. Every one so far they have acknowledged that they're in a movie, among other examples.
  • Butt Monkey: Par for the course for a Goldfish Poop Gang. It'd be faster to name the episodes where they didn't get abused in some way; this was mostly averted in Best Wishes.
  • Canon Foreigner: Jessie, James, and Meowth show up in the Pokémon Yellow game. And they're just as pathetic as always.
  • Catch Phrase: See the Quotes page.
  • Catchphrase Spouting Trio
  • Characterization Marches On: They've been all over the place in this regard.
  • Commuting on a Bus: As of Best Wishes, they've been downgraded from main cast members to recurring characters, with antagonistic wild Pokémon taking their place as enemies of the week, complete with the wild Pokémon being blasted off.
  • Custom Uniform: Their original white uniforms were this. All other Team Rocket grunts wear black, but they wore white symbolizing how outlandish they were from the rest of the organization. As of Best Wishes they wear black uniforms.
    • Until during Ash's battle against Burgh, where they switch back to their white uniforms because they've been given time off of their mission.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check
  • Darker and Edgier: Their current Best Wishes incarnations.
  • Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: They all love their jobs.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: They all have a soft spot for Chimchar after seeing how he was treated while under Paul's *cough* care. Another time, they wanted to pull off a scheme of the week, but stopped themselves, because they were touched by the farewell between Ash and Gliscor in the episode.
  • Evil Gloating: Rarely to their benefit - see Smug Snakes below.
  • Face Ship: Their iconic Meowth hot-air balloon.
  • Five-Bad Band: The Advanced Generation and Diamond and Pearl incarnations:
  • Flanderization: Throughout Kanto and most of Johto, they were bumbling and incompetent, but didn't really act overtly moronic and could pose some reasonable level of threat. From late Johto until the end of Sinnoh, they increasingly became hyperactively goofy and stupid in personality, and lost all sense of menace. Their individual quirks also got flanderized, such as Jessie's temper, James' sensitive side, and Meowth's boss fantasies (which seemed to get increasingly homoerotic).
    • Come Best Wishes, they're more serious than ever, including their Kanto personalities!
  • Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Occasionally manage to remind both the cast and the audience that they can be a competent threat. Two notable episodes are the Johto episode "The Stolen Stones", and the Hoenn episode "Do I Hear a Raltz?". Both of which features the heroes fighting off TR throughout the bulk of the episode, instead of the usual five-minute Curb Stomp Battle. The newest incarnation of the series has taken this concept and ran full steam with it.
  • Genre Savvy: Despite their blundering, they do seem the most self aware of the show and its standard plot points. Some of their more competent moments also often come from anticipating the "twerps" and their Pokemon's usual retaliations.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: Over the course of the series, Team Rocket have devolved into this. No longer in Best Wishes, though.
  • Humongous Mecha
  • In the Name of the Moon: Team Rocket's motto that they recite in every episode.
  • Jet Pack: How they escape "blasting off" nowadays.
  • Large Hams: All three of them.
  • Laughably Evil: Pretty much their thing. It's been downplayed in Best Wishes where they are portrayed as more serious and dangerous threats, though isn't completely gone (See their fishing competition scheme or their attempt to steal Luke's Zorua.)
  • Mission Control: They finally get one in Best Wishes with the introduction of Dr Zager.
  • Mooks--> Elite Mooks (In Best Wishes)
  • Multiple Choice Past
  • Mythology Gag: A couple of phrases from their Unova motto.

Jessie: Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future!
James: Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!

  • Not So Harmless: As of Pokémon BW. Even when they get their white duds back, they still are more competent than before.
    • Even prior to this in their earlier bumbling forms, they did pull off a genuinely formidable scheme every once in a while, only failing because Ash and Pikachu are that good.
  • Official Couple: Jessie and James in the manga adaptation The Electric Tale of Pikachu. In the anime it's ambiguous to this date.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Team Rocket's "specialty". As long as they do as little as change their hair a little bit and put something (even a pair of thin glasses) over their faces, they will fool others for at least a little while.
  • Redemption Promotion: Whenever they fight on the side of good, or even just play by the rules in tournaments, their competence level skyrockets. This applies more to James than Jessie, though.
  • Say My Name: Intentionally averted. Unless they're undercover (and even then, they have a hard time resisting the urge), Jessie, James, and Meowth have almost never called Ash and Co. by their names. They have been, and always will be "The twerps".
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: In Best Wishes, they left all of their old comical Pokémon at HQ, mainly because they're not Unova-native, including the literal clown Mime Jr.
    • The Terrible Trio themselves have appeared less frequently as well; most likely because the target audience of the show requires that they can't be allowed to actually win (at least not long-term), and because it's easier to show their competence without repetition of their old schemes as a result. It works.
  • Shoo the Dog: To Weezing and Arbok, who refused to leave them after being released to protect the Ekans and Koffing herd.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: Minus Meowth, in both the original and English dubs. Then again, most Team Rocket duos seem to have a theme name.
  • Smug Snakes: This is probably the main reason they always lose - they cannot seem to conceive that their plans might fail or their inventions be destroyed, not to mention they gloat too much. It's evident in the BW049/BW050 two-parter, where the best plan they'd built to date might have succeeded if Meowth hadn't arrogantly assumed Pikachu and Axew could do nothing while caged and thus had to get them as well - elsewise, Dr Zager would probably have picked up the train carriage with none of the Pokéball-bound Pokémon any wiser until it was too late.
    • It's even more evident in the Kami Trio two-parter, in which they showed that they hadn't learned from their past defeat and failed to capture the legendary pokemon because their getaway vehicle still wasn't secure enough. Thankfully, they seem to be learning better as they go on.
  • Spider Tank: The Magikarp submarine became one in one episode, and it climbed a cliff.
  • Status Quo Is God: Subverted in B/W. First, Team Rocket remained competent villains even when they went back to dressing in white and going after Pikachu and other Pokémon. Double subverted when Meowth was "fired from TR" and joined forces with Ash's group for a few episodes....only to reveal that he was still with Team Rocket and was merely tricking Ash and co.
  • Stealth Hi Bye: They're pulling these left and right as of Best Wishes.
  • Stealth Pun: The new Team Rocket logo. This trio really did become Darker and Edgier!
  • Terrible Trio: Former Trope Namer.
  • Three-Point Landing: They all manage to do this in "A Sandile Gusher of Change" when they fell into a random pitfall made by a Sandile.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Good Lord, Best Wishes. To this day, they still have yet to "get blasted off again."
  • True Companions: Have formed a strong bond with each other. And on the rare occasion that they aren't antagonistic, Ash can expect them to have his back (and he returns the favour), though it's unclear how they stand in Best Wishes.
  • A Twinkle in the Sky: "Looks like TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAAAAaaaaiiiiinnn! *Ding*
  • Unknown Rival: To Hunter J and Team Galactic in the Sinnoh arc. Averted in the Hoenn arc, where they generally stayed out of Team Aqua and Magma's way rather than attempt to compete with them, and in the Unova arc, where their rivalry with Team Plasma is quite serious.
  • You Shall Not Pass: To the Pokémon poacher in "A Poached Ego".
  • Younger Than They Look: They're apparently fifteen if the second movie means anything, but look and act like they're in their twenties.
    • In "The Ultimate Test", Jessie writes down her age as seventeen.
    • The original Universe Bible by Takeshi Shudo listed their age as twenty-five at the start of the show. They might have gotten changed to being in their late teens when the show actually took off, but from the Advanced Generation seasons and onwards, they seem like they are twenty-five years old. So clearly, their official ages are inconsistent.

Jessie (Musashi)

Prepare for trouble...


Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Rachael Lillis (EN, 4Kids), Michele Knotz (EN, current)

The de facto leader of the villainous threesome who are often out to capture Ash's Pikachu.

  • Anime Hair: Perhaps a water-soluable hair spray or some other product keeps it that way. See Letting Her Hair Down below for more.
  • Bare Your Midriff
  • Berserk Button: Quite a few:
  • Blood Knight: She's easily the most impulsive and violent of the three.
  • Can't Stand Them Can't Live Without Them: Jessie doesn't outright admit it, but she really does care for Wobbuffet.
  • Compressed Hair: Has no problem concealing her hair underneath Team Rocket's recurring disguise while in Unova.
  • Crossdresser: She used to do this just as much as James.
  • Demon Head: Sometimes does this when she gets mad at James and Meowth, as in the episode "One Trick Pony".
  • Extreme Omnivore: Jessie seemingly has the stomach for Misty's cooking and May's Pokéblocks.
  • Gratuitous English: For some reason, she picked up quite a bit of this in Sinnoh.
  • Identical Stranger: Jessie, strangely, looks like James' arranged ex-fiancée, right down to the English name.
  • Jerkass: Very often to Alpha Bitch levels, particularly in contests.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Beneath the veneer of bitchiness, she truly does care for her team and her Pokémon, and has willingly done good for the sake of it. She's even helped save the world more than once, too.
  • Kick the Dog: Several times.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: She could probably win contests looking like this.
  • Literal-Minded: In an episode of season 1, she and James take the phrase "underwater ballet" literally (it was actually a costumed synchronized swimming show that was going on), and she wears a pink tank top and tights.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to James' Feminine Boy.
  • The McCoy
  • Ms. Fanservice: She's a hot redhead with decently sized breasts and as mentioned has a bare midriff. Just look at her picture on this page. Also, one of the few regular females who isn't underage.
  • Missing Mom: A fellow Team Rocket member that seemingly disappeared in an expedition to find Mew.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The original series episode with Duplica had Jessie's um, "encouragement", curing Ditto of its Shapeshifting problems[1]. It wasn't by accident, either; that was what they were planning to do in the first place.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Although, ironically, she comes from quite a poor family.
  • Opera Gloves
  • Pet the Dog: Some of her interactions with her own Pokémon. Particularly her Dustox, who she sees as beautiful, and Wobbuffet, although she doesn't want to admit it regarding the latter.
  • Psychotic Smirk: Whenever she's planning her latest scheme...if not an outright Slasher Smile.
  • The Rival: In Diamond/Pearl (she was an Unknown Rival throughout Advanced Generation). You know she's gotten more competent at the Contest thing when she manages to actually win a Ribbon!
    • She wins enough to go to the Sinnoh Grand Festival, and only her last was not earned fairly but given by Salvia (Dawn already had 5).
  • Shoo the Dog: In "Ignorance is Blissey", to protect the eponymous Pokémon which is Jessie's old friend. The circumstances even fit three of the four listed reasons on the trope page!
  • Slapstick Knows No Gender: Well DUH, she's part of Team Rocket!
  • Slasher Smile: Umm, wow.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Even to this day, fans still misspell her name as "Jesse", probably to be more accurate to her and James' namesake.
  • Talking To Herself: See Misty, Piplup, Nurse Joy, and many of the other female characters across the various actresses.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Throughout the early parts of the series, she often fantasizes about owning a Smoochum. Halfway through the DP saga, during the Summer school arc, she gets to (temporarily) take care of one of her own.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Don't make her angry. Ever.
  • Zettai Ryouiki

Jessie's Pokémon

Ekans-Arbok (Arbo-Arbok)

Lickitung (Beroringa)

Wobbuffet (Sonans)

Seviper (Habunake)

  • An Ice Pokémon: Knows Haze, replacing Koffing/Weezing's role as the one to cover Team Rocket's escape.
  • Beware My Stinger Tail: Its Poison Tail attack.
  • Butt Monkey
  • Casting a Shadow: Knows Bite.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: In its debut.
  • Even Bad Mons Love Their Trainers: For all its faults, it is frequently shown that Seviper is fond of Jessie (who returns the feeling, of course).
  • Jerkass: Compared to its predecessors Arbok and Weezing, it doesn't seem to have as many redeeming qualities, or at least they aren't shown as much. Offset by being as comical as most TR Pokémon.
  • Oh Crap: Done very effectively in Seviper's debut. During its confrontation with Team Rocket, it was not afraid of anything, even after Jessie threw Wobbuffet and Meowth (literally in the latter's case) at it. And then it bit off Jessie's hair, and Seviper quickly realized that it had done something bad. Really bad.
  • Poisonous Pokémon
  • Put on a Bus: As of Best Wishes, it's with the other old Team Rocket Pokémon at headquarters.
  • Serious Business: Like with others of its species, regarding its rivalry with Zangoose - in DP052, it repeatedly refused to back down, and even kept exiting its Pokeball whenever Jessie tried to recall it.
  • Your Size May Vary: Seviper's size/length is never consistent.

Wurmple-Cascoon-Dustox (Kemusso-Mayuld-Dokucale)

  • Big Creepy-Crawlies
  • Blow You Away: Knows Whirlwind.
  • Evil Counterpart: To May's Beautifly, though granted she's not really that bad...
    • Their personalities are completely flipped when they were still just Wurmple, too.
  • Flight: Dustox
  • Hair Decorations: Yes, despite being a poisonous moth, she pulls this off - in her departure episode, she has ribbons similar to those "Jessalina" wears in Contests in her wings.
  • Poisonous Pokémon: Dustox's secondary type.
  • Psychic Powers: Knows Psybeam.
  • Put on a Bus: Butterfree-style - she finds a mate (of different-than-usual colour), wears an article of clothing, and then has a tearful goodbye with her trainer.

Yanma-Yanmega (Yanyanma-Megayanma)

Woobat (Koromori)

James (Kojirou)

...And make it double!


Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (JP), Ted Lewis (EN, 4Kids original), Eric Stuart (EN, 4Kids), Jimmy Zoppi (EN, current)

Jessie's somewhat dim-witted foil.

James: (hoisted into the air on a crane and wearing a Moltres costume) I am the flame that burns brightest! The flame that shatters the darkness!! I AM A FLAMING MOLTRES!! (laughs maniacally)

Meowth: That outfit...where'd he get it?

Jessie: (winces) I think that costume came right out of his closet.

  • Crossdresser: "Like, don't I make the coooolest girl?" Indeed. And he took this to the extreme in the first banned episode (trying to make a few bucks off of a swimsuit contest).
  • Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: He shows an aversion to this several times, like in the Pokémon Orienteering episode, where Jessie and Meowth give him an option of Dungeon Bypass, and he outright refuses to take it (although it was also because the route they spotted for him was going to be rough for Mime Jr.) as well as in Cosplay competition, where he and Mime Jr. both go into a Heroic BSOD after Jessie and Meowth decide to just steal the prize (the egg that will soon become Brock's Happiny).
  • Disproportionate Retribution: In "Flint Sparks the Fire", a trash collecting droid picks up James' prized bottle cap as trash. It resulted in him being a little too enthusiastic in Team Rocket's scheme in the next episode: stealing the Sunyshore Tower. Then again, this is James and bottle caps we're talking about...
  • Extreme Doormat: Often recessive (if not outright terrified) of Jessie. He can snap back on occasions however (see below).
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Makes you wonder if he missed his calling as a Mecha Pilot or a Friendly Sniper.
  • Hollywood Hacking: In BW15.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: While both he and Jessie are usually depicted as incompetent, the show has implied several times that James is the superior battler of the two.
  • Image Song: "Lucky Lucky"
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even though he has no moral issues with always trying to steal Pokémon as a member of Team Rocket, James really is a nice guy at heart. His close friendship with Jessie and Meowth is the only reason why he doesn't ever leave Team Rocket and a do a complete Heel Face Turn.
  • Kick the Dog: Him literally kicking Magikarp into the sea when he doesn't want to be its' master anymore comes to mind.
    • Also, he's the one who operates the machine that saps Caracosta's life force at Twist Mountain in Best Wishes.
  • Licked by the Dog: When he first met Cacnea.
  • Literal-Minded: In an episode of season 1, he and Jessie take the phrase "underwater ballet" literally (it was actually a costumed synchronized swimming show that was going on), and he wears a blue camisole leotard and tutu.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Is a rich boy who hates his restricted lifestyle, which is why he joined Team Rocket.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy to Jessie's Masculine Girl.
  • Minion with an F In Evil: The Team Rocket trio as a whole is a less evil than they try to be, but James crosses the line into outright nice on a frequent basis. He often calls a truce with the main cast if Chimecho or Mime Jr. are at stake, and occasionally tells off (and once attacked) his other teammates for breaking it.
    • Of course, come Best Wishes, he's a lot more dangerous.
  • Mr. Exposition: If a Pokédex isn't around, he often provides information on new Pokémon using cards.
  • The Other Darrin: Ted Lewis was James' dub voice for the first 8 episodes before Eric Stuart took the role.
  • Overused Running Gag: Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho and Carnivine affectionately biting/hugging him.
  • Overprotective Dad: Has shades of this, with Chimecho and later Mime Jr.
  • Pet the Dog: Several times, but literally in "Holy Matrimony". Poor Growlie.
  • The Power of Friendship: Not unlike Ash, most of the "captures" James made throughout the series are of Pokémon that willingly wanted to be part of his team, and there was no need for battling (with the arguable exception of Victreebel, although that wasn't cleared up on). Cacnea, Chimecho, Mime Jr., Carnivine, and Yamask.
  • Precious Puppies: Growlie.
  • Precision F-Strike: In the second episode of DP, Dawn doesn't recognize Team Rocket. What he says next in the English dub must've certainly charmed the socks off any Brit who happened to be watching:

James: That's why she doesn't know a bloody thing about us, there's no Sinnoh Team Rocket branch!

It's lavender.

James's Pokémon

Koffing-Weezing (Dogars-Matadogas)

Weepinbel-Victreebell (Utsudon-Utsubot)

Cacnea (Sabonea)

Chimecho (Chirean)

Mime Jr. (Manene)

Carnivine (Muskippa)

Yamask (Desumasu)

Meowth (Nyarth)

Meowth, Dat's Right!


Voiced by: Inuko Inuyama (JP), Nathan Price (EN, 4Kids original), Maddie Blaustein (EN, 4Kids), Jimmy Zoppi (EN, current)

The "third" Team Rocket member. Team Rocket's Meowth, in a rarity for his species (and Pokémon in general), is fully capable of normal human speech. He is rather useless in battle due to spending most of his efforts on speaking and walking like a human. Meowth is oddly philosophical, which doubtlessly helps him tolerate the endless beatings his group receives. He longs for the favor of Giovanni, which has led to strange daydreams about the Boss Rocket in recent seasons.

  • Aborted Arc: He mentioned once during the Diamond/Pearl series that he's training himself to learn Night Slash...and no mention of this was ever made again.
    • His ability to speak human language was also going to be pivotal in a big storyline planned by the former head writer ever since he wrote Meowth's origin episode but this never came to be.
  • As You Know: Suffers from this fate routinely, because he's the only character who can translate Pokemon for not only the characters, but the audience, so even when he's not with a human, he usually ends up just repeating exactly what the Pokemon just said back at them so the viewers aren't just hearing one side of the conversation.
    • Although that might be less irritating.
  • Blessed with Suck: All the effort he took to learn how to walk upright and talk has left him unable to use the Signature Move of his species: Pay Day. He mentions that it's because he used up all his "move slots".
    • Or battle competently at all most of the time, for that matter.
  • Break the Cutie: In "Go West Young Meowth" basically every human treated him cruelly and the other Pokémon weren't much better.
  • Brick Break: Fails at it.
  • Casting a Shadow: Knows Bite.
  • Cats Are Mean: He's this about half the time.
  • Cats Are Snarkers: ...and this the other half of the time.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Seems to have picked this up in Unova.

FURY SWIPES!

  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: When he's angry and delusional enough, he's a surprisingly competent battler. He fainted Barry's Empoleon with a single Fury Swipes, which it should be noted, it resists. However just a couple episodes later, he couldn't even break a display case with the same attack.
  • Chekhov's Skill: His talent for cutting up noodles in "Noodles: Romin' Off" is seen again later in "Dressed for Jess Success!"
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Most of his battles cultimate as this, even the odd ones he wins oddly enough. See The Power of Love below.
  • Cute Kitten: Early Kanto had him doing some kittenish stuff, like playing with yarn balls.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: He can understand Pokéspeak and speak English. He could be filthy rich if he tried using his skills for a job as a translator rather than a mafia goon.
    • Lampshaded in "Jumping Rocket Ship" when the twerps point out one of many possible futures for a talking Meowth (becoming a TV sensation).
    • During the time he spends with Ash's group in BW, he acts as a "Nyagotiator" in a couple of episodes.
  • Deadpan Snarker: So very much.
  • Death Glare: Gave the Dream Thief a hilariously angry look in Best Wishes, before slashing the crap out of him.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: in early Johto, he gets a Stalker with a Crush Snubbull obsessed with biting his tail.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: The Purrloin in BW46.
  • Dub Text
  • Enemy Mine: With Pikachu, whenever the two end up somewhere alone together. Meowth has even admitted that if circumstances were different, they'd probably be good friends.
    • The episode "King and Queen for a Day", after another accidental separation, Pikachu and Meowth have to babysit their respective group's babies together (Bonsly and Mime Jr.). Aside from Pikachu accusing Meowth of stealing food (he was planning to steal it, but the grateful owner gave it to him after his helping her), there was no bad blood between them throughout the episode.
      • Of course, Meowth's brief stint as the Heel Face Mole seems to have sparked Pikachu's ire in particular, we'll see where that ultimately goes.
  • Eagle Land: Grew up in Hollywood, and a BIG dose of Type 2.
  • Fastball Special

Jessie: (hurls Meowth at Seviper) Let's see if you're any use! Double-Edge attack!
Meowth: Wait, I don't know that attaaaaaaaack!

    • He returns the favor later when he fires Seviper and Cacnea through a chute (much to their chagrin) at the twerps.
  • Heartbroken Badass: All that time and Meowzie still wouldn't love him. Aw...
  • Heel Face Mole: He pulls this off in BW - he pretends to have been fired from Team Rocket in order to join Ash's group on the way to Nimbasa City. It was all a ruse to lower their guard so that he could lure them into a trap, as well as to bypass the Nimbasa Pokémon Centre's efficient security system.
  • Image Song: A bunch of endings, notably "Meowth's Song"
  • Imagine Spot: Fantasies of his Boss so prominent that it became a Running Gag.
  • Interspecies Romance: Okay, so most of his interests are feline (Meowzie, Skitty, Glameow, etc.) but there was the time he crushed on a human girl.
    • Love Redeems: And sometimes, because of it (in the case of Skitty and the human Cassandra) he resorts to doing good for their sake, with results.
    • Love Makes You Evil: On the other hand being rejected by Meowzie made him pretty bitter, though then again he was still willing to help her.
  • Kick the Dog: Sinks to his lowest thus far in Best Wishes when we find out that he lied about being fired from Team Rocket and he joined Ash and his friends just so he, Jessie and James could steal their Pokemon and he looked gleefully sadistic while doing this. He always tried to do this but this time he almost suceeded and it was portrayed as more vile act that anything he did. Pikachu also didn't forgive him for this.
    • He's had much more Kick the Dog moments over the years of course, including in episode 12 of the first season, during which he implies that he's capable of killing, but he's too much of a Noble Demon to actually follow through with any death threats, keeping him from ever crossing the line.
  • The Kirk
  • Manipulative Bastard: In the episodes "Fangs for Nothin'", "A Scare to Remember", and "Hooked on Onix". The first one has him convince a Dragonite that he, Jessie, and James are "protecting" the Dragon Fang from Claire, Ash, and the others. In the second one, he convinces an amnesia-stricken Pikachu that he's part of Team Rocket. And the third one has him, Jessie, and James trick an Onix (the leader of a pack of Rock-type Pokémon) into thinking that Ash and the others are the bad guys.
    • What about "Here Comes The Squirtle Squad", the earliest example?
    • In B/W, he convinces everyone he's been fired from Team Rocket, joins Ash for 5 episodes, and then backstabs him.
  • Mundane Utility: Again regarding the Imagine Spots, where the most Meowth could think of of Giovanni's use for their prey-for-the-week would be for some plain, day-to-day chore. Emphasis on "mundane".
  • Noble Demon: While he does deceive the main party big time in Best Wishes, he would never stoop so low as to kill someone even though he's capable of doing so, as demonstrated when he threatened Misty in episode 12 of the first season (meaning he's so noble, his death threats, while Ash does take them seriously, are always empty).
  • Non-Elemental
  • Noodle Incident: The exact details of the mission that got him fired from Team Rocket: both the mission itself as well as how he botched it. Turns out, this is because the whole story is a lie. See Heel Face Mole.
  • Papa Wolf: Given that the contest for who got to keep Togepi was between him and the three heroes, there's no way he was going to win. Still, his love for the little guy let him take an impressive beating from Brock's Onix and still come back to KO it. Okay technically he cheated by throwing water on Onix as an "attack", but hey, a Meowth knocking out an Onix is still an impressive feat.
  • Parental Abandonment: Meowth wasn't even raised by anyone and had to take care of himself as a kitten.
  • The Philosopher: Usually comes out when he looks at the moon.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: Played with. While Meowths aren't exactly the most powerful Pokemon in the games either, the show completely degrades Team Rocket's example, likely to keep his bumbling and reliance on Zany Schemes to steal Pokemon relevant. However Meowth will on occasion have very notable showings of true strength and skill, even if the majority of them lean as Rule of Funny.
  • The Power of Love: While usually a pitiful battler, romance seems to bring out a greater strength in him. With Fury Swipes, he singlehandedly took down Ash's Infernape and Staraptor, Jessie's Seviper and Yanmega, and Dawn's Togekiss...because he was in love with Glameow. He also defeated a Persian with a one-hit swipe to earn his childhood girlfriend (see Pyrrhic Victory below).
  • Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh: Most of Meowth's battles cultimate in this, those that aren't an outright One Hit KO anyway, while most of Jessie and James' Pokémon have at least some small but plausible strengths, Meowth is extremely inexperienced outside a usually ineffective Fury Swipes attack.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Managed to beat a Persian for the girl he loves...only to find she still considers him a "freak" and sticks with Persian anyway.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter
  • Right-Hand-Cat: Wants to replace Persian on Giovanni's lap.
  • Running Gag: Aside from the Boss fantasies, there was also Meowth's tendency to disguise himself as other Pokémon. The most prominent of these disguises is a Sunflora.
  • Rule of Funny: His battles. Whether they end in instant failure or he somehow wins, it's usually to set up a joke.
  • Sixth Ranger Traitor: Meowth plays this role during a 5-episode arc in Best Wishes - he claims to have been fired from Team Rocket, when it was part of a ploy to steal all the team's Pokémon.
  • Space Jews: Ever since the VA change, Meowth's been known to occasionally let loose an "oy vey."
  • Talking Animal
  • Talking to Himself: See James.
  • Third Person Person: sometimes yes and sometimes no. Also, he would occasionally replace certain words with his own name.
  • Translator Buddy: To the rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon.
  • Verbal Tic: "-nya". Averted in the English dub however; the first few episodes had Meowth use "meow" in a lot of his sentences, but this was quickly dropped.
  • We Need a Distraction: Currently the only time in the Best Wishes series where Meowth was doing anything remotely comical was in BW04, where Jessie and James force him into an Umbreon getup to divert the attention of Don George, his troupe, Ash and Iris, as the Rockets go on with their caper.
  • We Want Our Jerks Back: The one time Meowth was treated too nicely by Jessie and/or James, he outright admits that he's much more used to being bullied by them.
    • And then there's another time when he did it to himself: he mentions that it sometimes scares him how he has a rarely seen soft side.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Iris when she attempts (and fails) to catch him in a Pokeball without warning.
  • Worthy Opponent: Has a grudging respect for the Meowth that was a Puss in Boots Expy from the Hoenn League, since they share an enmity towards their evolved form. However, it's a case of an Unknown Rival, since Meowth-in-Boots rarely acknowledges him.


  1. ↑ Ditto keeps its face when it transforms
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