Pokémon/Characters/Best Wishes

Professor Juniper (Dr. Araragi)
"Voiced by: Naomi Shindo (JP), Khristine Hvam (EN)"


 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Karrablast. It is then traded for Bianca's Shelmet, who then evolves into Accelgor.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Character Tics: Seems to be fond of that weird salute that her game counterpart is also prone to doing.
 * Eighties Hair
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Accelgor's Hyper Beam.
 * Green Thumb: Accelgor's Energy Ball.
 * Healing Factor: Accelgor's Recover.
 * Hot Scientist
 * Straight Man: To Fennel.

Trip (Shooti)
"Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (JP), Jamie McGonnigal (EN)"

Ash's main rival in Unova. He is also a Pokémon photographer.


 * Adorkable: Has shown signs of being one but most of this is suppressed by his aloof attitude, but once certain people (Alder) are around him though, that side of him is gone almost instantly, with his voice suddeny getting childishly high in the process.
 * Always Someone Better: Played straight at first, but ever since he tied with Ash during their third battle the writers have thankfully made his strength more evidently balanced.
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: A classic case, what with his obsession with gaining greater strength than other challengers.
 * Ascended Fanboy: Wanted to be a trainer after watching the Champion Alder battle. While he promised himself that he would become a trainer so he could face Alder one day, it's to be noted that his overall cheerfulness as a child is gone by the time he starts as a trainer.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Gurdurr
 * Barrier Warrior: Frillish's Protect.
 * Beginner's Luck: His first battle with Ash.
 * Berserk Button: Trip hates being called a "kid" or getting called out for being childish. Iris doing it gets to him twice.
 * Getting rejected also doesn't seem to faze well with him, especially when it's by his idol.
 * Break the Cutie/Break the Haughty: BW054 shows shades of this, especially when Trip leaves the group. It's not surprising though: the person you idolized not remembering you, demonstrating to you that the idol you love has apparently grown senile and unserious and then your idol not wanting to battle you after refusing to finish the battle with your rival will shatter your view of things even if you don't show it, and with the other tropes shown below, it might be more serious than we think.
 * He gets another one when
 * Brick Break: Gurdurr's Rock Smash.
 * Broken Pedestal: Alder, as stated above.
 * The Bully: In his first two appearances, pre-Character Development.
 * Camera Fiend: A minor example as it's not to the extreme of Luke's obsession with filming. Trip is always seen with his camera though before he puts it away.
 * Catch Phrase: Trip seems to be really fond of "the basics of Pokémon training".
 * Characterization Marches On: Started off as a rival that seemed to enjoy making fun of Ash and the Kanto region but quickly mellowed down to a quiet, aloof Rival that gives advice to Ash despite still being annoyed by him.
 * Character Tics: Apparently when he's really happy (which is rare), he holds his arms in front of him when he's talking. It's almost similar to a certain spirit channeler from a certain lawyer game.
 * Cheerful Child: As a really young boy, and it's still there at his current age. In fact, you can tell he's happy by the tone of his voice.
 * Cross Dressing Voice: Only in the Japanese version.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: As a young child, complete with the Puppy Dog Eyes.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Mainly toward Ash.
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Gurdurr's Stone Edge.
 * Doppelganger Spin: Tranquill's Double Team.
 * Eagle Land: When you consider that Unova is based on New York, Trip comes off as a Type 2: arrogant, condescending and quick to insult Ash and his home region Kanto. However, recent episodes have him of a mixture of type 1 and 2 but he prefers to hide fact that he is type 1.
 * Expy: Of Cheren.
 * Many members of the fanbase at first believed that he was going to be one of Paul after his first appearance, but then his Hidden Depths and the rest of his personality traits came about and revealed they share little in common at all.
 * Graceful Loser: To Cilan in the Club Battle tournament. He is upset about losing, but claims that he'll use that dissapointment to help make him stronger rather than dwell on it.
 * Gray Eyes
 * Green Thumb: Servine
 * Hidden Depths: The Kuudere Rival was actually a Cheerful Child when he was much younger and an Ascended Fanboy. Whatever happened from the time that Alder told him that he would wait for him to be a trainer to him getting his starter Pokémon is where this trope comes in...and there are speculations of something happening in that time frame.
 * Hypocritical Humor: He calls Ash immature but is shown to be equally immature when it comes to certain subjects like getting Alder's attention.
 * An Ice Pokémon: Vanillite
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As of his third appearance, we learn that he's not actually that bad of a guy. It takes convincing but he does help Ash herd the Venipede to Castelia main square. And he also uses his Tranquill to save Ash's Pidove when one of the Venipede attacked.
 * Jerkass Facade: His fourth appearances shows that he isn't really a jerk. For some strange reason, he would rather be a jerk towards Ash than be nice to him. However, he fails to even be that, and he ends up helping Ash realize why Oshawott isn't hitting its mark with Aqua Jet (by pausing their battle and explaining it to him, not even trying to take advantage of it). He also volunteers to help Iris overcome her fear of ice Pokémon (but she refused, because...well, she's afraid of ice Pokémon!)
 * Letter Motif: Ash's first two main rivals are Shigeru (Gary) and Shinji (Paul).
 * And to an extent, Shuu (Drew) and Jun (Barry).
 * Loners Are Freaks: He's well-noted for his anti-social behavior, as he apparently thinks interaction with others interferes with one's own personal growth.
 * Made of Iron: His Vanillite took two direct Flame Charges and an Ember from Ash's Tepig and still managed to get a tie with him.
 * Making a Splash: Frilish
 * Mood Swinger: According to Alder and from what the audience sees, there are some hints that his personality does go 180 as shown in BW054 when he's quiet one moment and then rather hyperactive the next only to swing right back to his serious self near the end, only this time with actual anger rather than sulleness.
 * More Than Meets the Eye
 * Dandere: It only takes mentioning Alder or for Alder to be in the area for him to start talking a lot with a high pitch voice. (In the English version, his voice while not as high started to sound like Barry given that they share the same voice actor).
 * Kuudere: Type 3 cynicism to its max and is only directed toward Ash.
 * Taken up a notch in BW041 where Ash is trying to get his attention. Trip obviously sees Ash but decides to turn the other way. Ash's expression is priceless.
 * Name's the Same: Not just the name, actually.
 * Non-Elemental: Tranquill
 * Playing with Fire: Lampent
 * Punny Name: Shooti coming from "photo shoot", and Trip possibly coming from "tripod".
 * The Quiet One: Even when sitting with everyone else in the Club Battle, he prefers talking to himself than with others.
 * In the Donamite (the Club Battle's sequel), he doesn't even sit with the others, he just stands in a shady corner and comment on Ash's battle (which he is watching rather intensely.)
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Ash's red of the "Best Wishes" series.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: His Vanillite. Ironically, Iris, who is scared of Ice Pokémon, thinks the exact opposite, which seems to disappoint it.
 * Smug Snake: His Servine mainly, and he himself until his third appearance taught him some humility.
 * Soul Power: Frillish, Lampent
 * Speedrunner: Seems to be his way of doing things.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: What happened to the happy little boy in the flashback that made him the aloof Rival now?
 * The Worf Effect: Gurdurr can't seem to win a single fight.
 * Wind from Beneath My Wings: Tranquill
 * Wind from Beneath My Wings: Tranquill

Don George
"Voiced by: Hisao Egawa (JP), Marc Thompson (EN)"

The owner(s) of the Pokémon Battle Clubs located around the Unova region.


 * Badass Moustache
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows
 * Distaff Counterpart: To Jenny and Joy. To the degree that he has dozens of identical brothers.
 * Inexplicably Identical Individuals
 * Manly Tears: Makes you wonder if he's a Gentle Giant if pressed enough...
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: In the dub, he sounds like Randy Savage!
 * Small Name, Big Ego: He's certainly a nice guy, but also very egotistical, creating entire tournaments named for him and featuring giant statues of himself at his stadiums. Downplayed in the dub, where the tournaments are named as "Club" instead of "Don".

Bianca (Bel)
"Voiced by: Shizuka Ito (JP), Bella Hudson (EN)"

One of Ash's rivals in Unova. ---
 * Aside Glance: She waves to the audience upon introducing herself.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Pignite, Excavalier's Quick Guard.
 * Barrier Warrior: Shelmet's Protect.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Shelmet. It is later traded for Professor Juniper's Karrablast, Excavalier
 * Break the Cutie: A minor example in BW051. She looks ready to cry when it seems like she'll have to stop her journey but at the end of the episode, she gets better.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Um, yeah. Regardless of whether the Pokémon belongs to her, or if the Pokémon even knows the attack!
 * Character Development: Starting with BW051, she's becoming a much more likeable character (her personality hasn't changed that much, but her attitude about things such as her journey and her Pokémon sure have).
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * Color Failure: Minccino in BW027 after his Attract failed to hit Emolga.
 * Crash Into Hello: A running gag with her, with Ash being knocked into water every time.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She might not look like it, but she has three badges despite her childish nature.
 * Also worth noting is that she won her first two badges using only her starter Pokémon, since she only had Pignite prior to BW013.
 * Finally, her breakthrough comes in the form of.
 * Cuteness Proximity
 * The Cutie
 * The Ditz/Dumb Blonde
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Excalavier
 * Expy: Of Barry, even moreso than she was in the games.
 * Faux Action Girl: Is described by Cilan as a "tough battler" in her first appearance, but in subsequent appearances she's constantly losing battles without putting up much of a fight at all.
 * Flanderization: As mentioned above, her hyperactivity and ditziness are much more extreme than they were in the original video game.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Excavalier's Hyper Beam.
 * Genki Girl
 * Green Eyes
 * Green Thumb: Shelmet's Energy Ball.
 * Guest Star Party Member: She's prone to travelling with Ash and Co. for several episodes at a time.
 * Hartman Hips: A rare anime and non-mature example, but Bianca does have it going on.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: How Minccino was caught. When Bianca pulled out a dirty Pokéball, Minccino (still wild at the time) was so desperate to clean it that he scuttled right up onto her shoulder and started dusting it with his tail...which caused the ball to open and suck him in!
 * Make Me Wanna Shout: Minccino's Hyper Voice.
 * Nice Hat
 * Non-Elemental: Minccino
 * No Sense of Personal Space: She can't stop touching the other female competitors, but this is due to her thinking that they're all Zorua.
 * And then in the Donamite arc, she can't stop obsessing over (and touching) the various Fighting Pokémon's muscles.
 * One Steve Limit: Averted in the dub. Bianca from Pokémon Heroes has the same name as her.
 * Overly Long Gag: Searching for things (Ash's badge case, a Pokéball) in her bag. It took so long that Ash and Cilan's clothes have already dried up and they were changing into them by the time she found what she's looking for. Even in a meta sense, it lasted 22 seconds.
 * Overprotective Dad: Just like in the games. She mentions that it took forever to get her dad to let her start a journey on her own. Said dad tries to take her back home in BW051 and almost succeeds if Ash and the group didn't interfere.
 * Playing with Fire: Pignite
 * Plucky Girl: In her own words when pursuing Emolga, "I'll NEVER give up!"
 * Poisonous Pokémon: Shelmet's Acid.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Minccino and Shelmet. She doesn't seem to have any others though (much to her dismay).
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Energetic Girl to Luke's Savvy Guy.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Ash's very first female rival (sort of...she's more frequently a companion than a rival.)
 * Ship Tease: The Donamite tournament features her fangirling over Sawk and clinging to Stephan.
 * Shock and Awe: Minccino's Thunderbolt.
 * Spoiled Sweet: Seems to insist on having things her way, but not really mean about it.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: When she's present, she's the Girly Girl to Iris' Tomboy.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass: She's far from mean, don't get it wrong, but compared to the super-nice and humble Bianca from the games, her selfish, clingy streak in the anime is jarring. In particular, a lot of fans did not take kindly to her obsessing over Zorua so badly, she even tried to trade her starter away for it! Not to mention how she foregoes helping Luke in favour of filming Zorua. It was supposed to be funny. Then again, the dub makes it obvious that it's not funny given how Luke retorts her.
 * Took a Level In Kindness: After Ash risked his journey in a battle with her father in BW051, she's become less clingy and selfish in all subsequent appearances - notably, she's taken to apologising profusely whenever she knocks him into a body of water these days, and is less obsessive over obtaining "cute" Pokémon than she used to be.
 * The Worf Effect: She has never won a battle on-screen, even though both her Pignite and Minccino have either been shown or implied to be decent battlers.
 * Though not quite victory, in BW065 she and Professor Juniper face Ash and Cilan in a tag battle -- using their newly traded and evolved Escavalier and Accelgor - and manage to co-ordinate well enough to defeat Boldore before Crustle seals a victory with Rock Wrecker.
 * Though not quite victory, in BW065 she and Professor Juniper face Ash and Cilan in a tag battle -- using their newly traded and evolved Escavalier and Accelgor - and manage to co-ordinate well enough to defeat Boldore before Crustle seals a victory with Rock Wrecker.

Burgundy (Cabernet)
"Voiced by: Ikumi Hayama (JP), Suzy Myers (EN)"

A Pokémon connoisseuse and self-proclaimed rival to Cilan.


 * Always Someone Better: In an interesting role reversal (for this series), she's the one on the receiving end, while the main character she's The Rival to is the "Better" in question.
 * Arch Enemy: Sees Cilan as this after he defeated her in a Gym Battle.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Stoutland, toward her at least.
 * Biting the Handkerchief: Does this while insulting Cilan's Pokémon food for Snivy in front of him. Needless to say Snivy isn't pleased with her comments (see Butt Monkey below).
 * Butt Monkey: See Too Dumb to Live below.
 * Also, during the Club Battle, Ash's Snivy literally Vine Whips her in the butt.
 * Catch Phrase: "Bonjour~! New Tasting time, s'il vous plaît!"
 * Character Development: Throughout the Club Battle, culminating in actually coming to respectful terms with Cilan.
 * Curtains Match the Window: She has purple eyes and hair.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Single type Pokémon
 * Making a Splash: Dewott
 * Non-Elemental: Stoutland
 * Dual type Pokémon
 * Non-Elemental/Green Thumb: Sawsbuck
 * Pokémon who know moves of a different type
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Dewott's Fury Cutter, and Sawsbuck's Megahorn.
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: Stoutland's Fire, Ice and Thunder Fang attacks.
 * Gratuitous French: Has more of this in the English dub (presumably because the Japanese voice actress is less skilled at speaking French.)
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Humble Pie: Cilan gives her a rather cruel one when he defeats her Pokémon without taking any damage. To add to the insult, he was toying with her Sawsbuck with his Pansage when all he had to do was one-hit KO it with a SolarBeam. Though in his defense, he really was trying to teach her a meaningful lesson.
 * Imagine Spot: ...which has Cilan evilly taunting her and her Oshawott, then doing an Evil Laugh while Pansage cackles in the background.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Rival
 * I Warned You: Tells Cilan during the Club Battle that he wouldn't make it past the second round. Needless to say, she's very pleased when this comes true.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may be crazy, snobby and judgemental, but she really loves her Pokémon, even to the point of a very literal Pet the Dog during the Club Battle tournament.
 * Also, she's getting to be on better terms with Cilan now too, only getting angry at him as a reaction to something he unwittingly says or does, rather than trying to actively antagonize him.
 * Large Ham: Like Cilan, she has her moments of this.
 * Ham-to-Ham Combat: Quite literally during the last round of the Club Battle.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: In her battle with Ash, she has Stoutland use Thunder Fang on the ground-type Palpitoad. This turns out to be a ruse to make Ash drop his guard, and she immediately swaps for Ice Fang.
 * Plucky Girl: Gotta give her one thing; skilled or not, she never gives up.
 * Pride
 * Purple Eyes
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender: She is constantly under the abuse of Ash's Pokémon as well as the people around her. Bianca for instance, glomps Georgia, tackles Iris, but with Burgundy? She tramples her.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: She believes she's always right when it came to criticizing Ash's Pokémon. Cue them all attacking her and she declaring that they all suck.
 * Too Dumb to Live: She continues to negatively criticize all of Ash's Pokémon even after they attack her.
 * Granted, during their "Connoisseur duel" in the Club Battle arc, she conceded defeat to Cilan early on, realising that her skills hardly even compare to his. This appears to have helped her mature a little more.
 * Tsundere: Type A to a ridiculous extreme at first, but mellows out into a Type B, albeit a fiery Type B (Example: In the Donamite, she yells at Cilan to WIN his match against a one-shot character...but when he does win and celebrates it, she gets annoyed by his attitude and says she was wrong, he should have lost!)
 * Unknown Rival: To Cilan.
 * As of BW044 not anymore. He accepts her as his rival, which shocks her so much that she begins to actually appreciate him a little more.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to her at least before Cilan defeated her, complete with an innocent white dress in her Imagine Spot.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Georgia at the Donamite. The two snipe at each other often, yet are constantly hanging out together regardless.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Woman Scorned: No kidding.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Woman Scorned: No kidding.

Stephan (Kenyan)
"Voiced by: Tomohiro Waki (JP), Darren Dunstan (EN)"

Another one of Ash's rivals in Unova.


 * Berserk Button: Whenever someone mispronounces his Japanese name as "Keniyan", which is often to his dismay. Semi-subverted in that he's (usually) more exasperated with it than "berserk" about it.
 * Big Eater: Rivals Ash in this regard.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Bruiser With a Soft Centre: His Sawk. Arguably Stephan himself, as he's a big guy with an eagerness for battle who is nonetheless quite kindhearted.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: How does he get around the fact that his Sawk (part of an all-male species) would be targeted by moves like Attract? Train him really hard to develop defensive techniques, of course! There's a Hard Work Montage/Training Montage superimposed over his explanation, too!
 * Cool Horse: Zebstrika
 * Elemental Powers
 * Single type Pokémon
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Sawk
 * Shock and Awe: Zebstrika
 * Pokémon who know moves of a different type
 * Playing with Fire: Zebstrika's Flame Charge.
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Gentle Giant: He's a big guy, but outside of battle, he's very laid-back.
 * Guest Star Party Member: From BW071-BW075, since he travels with the group prior to the Donamite.
 * Hot-Blooded: Especially during battles.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: In a manner similar to Butch.
 * In Japanese, it's Kenyan, not Keniyan or Kaniyan.
 * In English, it's Stephan, not Stephan or Steven.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: When he's present, he's the Manly Man to Cilan's Sensitive Guy.
 * Shipper on Deck: For Cilan/Burgundy apparently.
 * Ship Tease: With Bianca.
 * Skintone Sclerae
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: His Sawk is this - during the Donamite,
 * Worthy Opponent:
 * Worthy Opponent:
 * Worthy Opponent:

Georgia (Langley)
"Voiced by: Misato Fukuen (JP), Brittney Lee Hamilton (EN)"



Self-proclaimed Dragon Buster and Iris's rival.


 * Action Girl
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Girl
 * The Battle Didn't Count: Georgia claims this if she's beaten with a non-Dragon Pokémon.
 * Badass: Georgia's own credentials are debatable, but her Beartic definitely counts - he fought Iris' Excadrill to a standstill twice, and though the second was called as a draw he was the last to collapse. He has yet to have a recorded defeat.
 * Between My Legs: How she's introduced.
 * Big Eater: She can wolf down a breakfast for three people and still have some appetite left. Pity it happened to be Ash and co's breakfast.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Character Development: In the form of Took a Level In Kindness during the Donamite, and carried further in the Ferroseed research facility one.
 * David Versus Goliath: Her Beartic versus Sylvester's four inches high Joltik.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: She once lost to a Dragon trainer and has now made it a goal to go around defeating all Dragon trainers she comes across. Can you say "overreaction"?
 * Then again,
 * Elemental Powers
 * Single type Pokémon
 * An Ice Pokémon: Beartic.
 * Dual type Pokémon
 * Casting a Shadow/Extra Ore Dinary: Pawniard
 * Pokémon who know moves of a different type
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Beartic's Rock Smash.
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: Beartic
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Gratuitous English: "Bye!"
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Not in the romantic way, obviously. Georgia is one of the shortest trainers, yet her Beartic is an eight feet tall giant.
 * Hypocritical Humor: Her feud with Iris is based around this on both sides. Also, she sarcastically tells Burgundy "You're about as nice as they come." Like she's any better herself....
 * To be fair, she isn't as spiteful as Burgundy is, and she never went to the extremes Burgundy did. It's also worth noting that while Iris bites back at her just as hard when they feud, Cilan is perfectly civil towards Burgundy at all times. On the other hand, Burgundy actually parted ways with Cilan more civilly at the end of the Club Battle tournament than Georgia did with Iris, so one can argue they're evenly matched at this point.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Started off as a straight-out Jerkass, but started to get better during the second Don George tournament, and her heart of gold status is solidified
 * Kick the Dog: One might be able to let her bitchiness slide, but eating three other peoples' breakfasts? And then proceeding to say it that could have been better cooked? That's terrible!
 * The insult doubles for Cilan who has technically been running a gym that is a restaurant for most of his life, and is very proud of his skills.
 * Large Ham: If someone goes around declaring themselves a "Dragon Buster", they're a Ham.
 * Meaningful Name: Her dub name "Georgia" is derived from St. George and the Dragon, a famous English tale of a crusader who...well, slayed a dragon. Her Japanese name refers to Asuka LANGLEY Soryu, another female red-haired Jerkass who is implied to have deep insecurities and an inferiority complex (along with Hidden Depths).
 * Mighty Glacier: Beartic is slower than all his opponents so far, and so relies on big, heavy blows. It caused him some trouble when facing Joltik, the smallest Pokémon there is... and a fast one to boot.
 * Nice Hat
 * Not So Different: From Iris, as evidenced by their Club Battle tournament interactions. Georgia even points this out.
 * One-Hit Kill: Pawniard's Guillotine.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: When Burgundy vows revenge against Iris for a loss, Georgia tells her to butt out because Iris is her rival.
 * Pet the Dog: Shows some actual respect toward Iris after Iris wins the Club Battle tournament, and flat out encourages her to become a Dragon Master. She also shows a noteably softer, more reasonable side around Bianca.
 * Red Baron: "The Dragon Buster", though she gave herself this title.
 * The Rival: For Iris.
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender: Similar to Burgundy, she's the main victim of abuse during the Club Battle arc with Zorua constantly turning into her and then running away from Bianca who often causes her problems as a result.
 * Sore Loser: Said a tie didn't count since it wasn't a dragon she tied against, and blamed her loss against Ash on the battlefield.
 * Says her loss to  in the Donamite doesn't count either as it wasn't against a dragon, but this time she's saying it directly to   as a comfort, so she doesn't come across as badly.
 * Tsundere: Like her buddy Burgundy, she started out Type A, but become more of a Type B once she started reserving her tsun side exclusively for her rival (in this case, Iris.)
 * Took a Level In Kindness: In the Donamite tournament.
 * Use Your Head: Pawniard's Iron Head.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Burgundy at the Donamite. The two snipe at each other often, yet are constantly hanging out together regardless.
 * Wolverine Claws: Pawniard's Metal Claw.
 * Worthy Opponent: In the Club Battle, she says that she's actually pleased that Iris is getting stronger, since as a Dragon Buster, she'd rather defeat strong Pokémon than weak ones.
 * She was also disappointed when
 * Zettai Ryouiki: A Grade
 * She was also disappointed when
 * Zettai Ryouiki: A Grade

Luke
"Voiced by: Minami Takayama (JP), Billy Bob Thompson (EN)"

A trainer that is aiming to be a film director. Joins Ash and the group during the the Nimbasa tournament arc to learn about filming battles better.


 * Adorkable
 * All Webbed Up: Larvesta's String Shot.
 * Berserk Button: Not really "berserk" for say but he gets irritated when a good battle isn't filmed or when he's told that he can't be a good film director. Bianca pushes both of these buttons.
 * In the dub however, it's more of a berserk button due to his tone of voice and how he calls her out on the first one.
 * Interestingly, for the latter Bianca deliberately pushed it, and for the purpose of helping him (essentially, convincing him to come closer so he can get a clearer shot of the battle taking place). It works... surprisingly well, despite the inherent risk from being inside the battle zone.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He doesn't look it, but he is actually very effective in battle.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Camera Fiend: He is obsessed with filming battles and it gets to the point that he gets mad at Bianca who filmed his Zorua instead of his battle with Iris.
 * Combat Pragmatist: His Zorua.
 * Doppelganger Spin: Golett's Double Team.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Single type Pokémon
 * Casting a Shadow: Zorua
 * Dual type Pokémon
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies/Green Thumb: Leavanny
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies/Playing with Fire: Larvesta
 * Dishing Out Dirt (Ground)/Soul Power: Golett
 * Pokémon who know moves of a different type
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Golett's Gyro Ball.
 * Soul Power: Zorua's Shadow Ball.
 * Elemental Punch: Golett's Shadow Punch.
 * Guest Star Party Member: During the Club Battle Tournament arc.
 * Master of Disguise: Zorua, but since it's a girl, it prefers doing female roles.
 * Megane
 * Nice Guy
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Savvy Guy to Bianca's Energetic Girl.
 * Skintone Sclerae
 * The Trickster: His Zorua who often turns into Georgia or someone else altogether to have Bianca continue to search for her tirelessly.
 * Screwy Squirrel: Zorua really has no motive for its tricks other than to have fun at anyone's expense (sometimes even Luke's!)
 * Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: In the dub, Luke almost says this word per word to Bianca when she says that he only told him to film but not who to film. He calls her out saying he clearly told her to film him and not his Zorua. She just ignores him.
 * Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: In the dub, Luke almost says this word per word to Bianca when she says that he only told him to film but not who to film. He calls her out saying he clearly told her to film him and not his Zorua. She just ignores him.

Dr. Zager
"Voiced by: Masayuki Omoro (JP), Marc Thompson (EN)"

An esteemed, elderly Team Rocket scientist who was first brought into Unova to aid in the mission to obtain the Meteonite, and has since become Jessie, James, and Meowth's commanding officer while Giovanni is absent.


 * Badass Grandpa: Established himself as one when he flew a helicopter in to yank a train off it's tracks.
 * Badass Mustache
 * The Comically Serious: During the climax of the Battle Subway mission, where he keeps on snarling back at Jessie and James continuing to bug him over what to do.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Evil Genius
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Grumpy Old Man
 * The Heavy: Is the Big Bad Of Best Wishes in Giovanni's absence.
 * Kick the Dog:
 * Large Ham: In his Not So Stoic moments.
 * Mad Scientist: Though far more composed than most.
 * Milking the Giant Cow: [Observe!]
 * Mission Control: To Jessie, James, and Meowth, though he's not above getting in on the action himself.
 * Noble Demon: Shows signs of it in Operation Tempest, where he, like the trio, is visibly unnerved at Brainwashed and Crazy Giovanni's claims of wanting to destroy all of Unova.
 * Pet the Dog: Warning the Terrible Trio of the danger in a mansion he reputed to be haunted and dangerous is either this or Pragmatic Villainy (since he doesn't want to lose his three agents).
 * Similarly, him sending the trio the Basculin-shaped submarine on the final ED credits for the series. He likely didn't have to do this since Team Rocket as a whole was done with Unova, yet he's still keeping in touch with his agents and providing for them. And since friendship is the theme of that ED credits...
 * Put on a Bus: He returned to Kanto at the end of Season 15, and hasn't been seen since. He does have a cameo appearance in the final ED credits for the Japanese version of Best Wishes, though, sending the TRio the blueprints for their Basculin submarine.
 * The Stoic: Unless he's angry, or excited due to scientific discovery.

Chili (Pod) and Cress (Corn)
Cilan's brothers.


 * Alphabetical Theme Naming: Their English names (and Cilan's) all begin with a "C."
 * Badass: Cress has, to date, no reported losses in contrast to his brothers (he even beat Pikachu without taking a single hit in return, though to be fair he had an excellent strategy in place for Electric-type opponents).
 * Big Eater: Chili, whose solution for resolving stress is to stuff his face. His Pansear also has the ability "Gluttony".
 * Birds of a Feather: Non-romantic, but Cilan determines that Chili and Pansear are perfect partners due to the many traits they share.
 * Bow Ties Are Cool
 * The Bus Came Back: Chili in BW060.
 * Can't Catch Up: This is acknowledged in BW060, when Chili is revealed to be suffering an inferiority complex, percieving himself as the weakest of the brothers due to having suffered a losing streak, expecially when Pansage circumvents his type disadvantage against Pansear with more balanced attacks. The gang helps him out by training Pansear to learn Solarbeam.
 * Curtains Match the Windows
 * Doppelganger Spin: Cress' Panpour's Double Team.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Cress, to a degree - also see Third Person Person below. Ironically, in the English dub he has the deepest voice of all the triplets.
 * Edible Theme Naming
 * Elemental Hair
 * Elemental Powers:
 * Single type Pokémon
 * Making a Splash: Cress' Panpour.
 * Playing with Fire: Chili's Pansear.
 * Pokémon who know moves of a different type
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Pansear's Dig and Panpour's Mud Sport.
 * Green Thumb: Pansear's Solarbeam.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys
 * Eyes Always Shut: Cress' Panpour.
 * Fiery Redhead: Chili
 * Freudian Trio: With all three brothers.
 * The Kirk: Cilan
 * The McCoy: Chili
 * The Spock: Cress
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Pansear's Solarbeam (taught to it by Pansage).
 * Hot-Blooded: Chili to the extreme. Shared by his Pansear.
 * Large Ham: Chili, at times. Ironically, his brother Cilan can sometimes be even hammier.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Cress' advice to Chili about his battle style, while necessary to help him improve, probably could have been delivered a little more delicately, something Cress guiltily admits to. Thankfully, Cilan manages to deliver the advice better and rectify the situation.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Chili and Cress respectively.
 * Meanwhile, Cilan himself is blue to Chili, but red to Cress.
 * Sharp Dressed Young Men
 * Sibling Team: Along with Cilan (until he elects to travel awhile), the three of them share their duties at the Gym (which also doubles as a restaurant), allowing the challenger to select his or her opponent in a one-on-one Gym Battle.
 * Take a Third Option: Ash requests the opportunity to battle all three Gym Leaders. Cress suggests a series of 3 one-on-one matches to determine whether Ash earns a badge (he beats Chili, loses to Cress, and then beats Cilan).
 * The Stoic: Cress.
 * Third Person Person: Cress in the original Japanese version - culturally and grammatically, doing so is regarded as a mannerism of femininity.
 * The Worf Effect: Of the triplets, Chili appears to lose the most battles, having been beaten by Trip using a disadvantaged Servine, for goodness sake. Deconstructed when he develops an inferiority complex and runs away from the Gym, and It Got Worse when Cilan and Pansage defeat his Pansear in BW060.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Cress.

Lenora (Aloe)

 * Adventurer Archaeologist: Implied to be one.
 * Barrier Warrior: Herdier's Protect.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Shows up just in time to resolve the conflict in BW014
 * Blue Eyes
 * Happily Married
 * Elemental Powers: She specializes in Normal types:
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Watchog's Low Kick.
 * Shock and Awe: Watchog's Thunderbolt.
 * Soul Power: Watchog's Confuse Ray, and Lillipup and Herdier's Shadow Ball.
 * Meaningful Name: Lenora, as in normal types.
 * Stealth Mentor: She takes this approach when battling Ash, treating her battle with him like a test he needs to pass.
 * Token Minority: The only "black" Gym Leader. Not that that's a bad thing, given she's no stereotype.
 * You Gotta Have Dark-Green Hair

Burgh (Arti)

 * All Webbed Up: Leavanny's String Shot.
 * Ambiguously Gay
 * Badass Cape: As part of his Dynamic Entry.
 * Barrier Warrior: Leavanny and Dwebble's Protect.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows
 * Early-Bird Cameo: In BW018, similar to his in-game first appearance.
 * Elemental Powers: He specialises in Bug types:
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Dwebble's secondary type (Rock).
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Whirlipede's Iron Defense.
 * Green Thumb: Leavanny's secondary type.
 * Poisonous Pokémon: Whirlipede's secondary type.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Leavanny's Hyper Beam.
 * Green Eyes
 * Meaningful Name: His English name sounds like bug.
 * Nice Guy
 * Performance Artist
 * Real Men Wear Pink: His signature Pokémon, Leavanny, is from a species reknowned for its sewing ability. Burgh himself is a talented artist.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He does his best to both stop and help the Venipede in BW022, and manages to convince the mayor to give him a chance, while even talking Trip into assisting.
 * Scarf of Asskicking

Elesa (Kamitsure)

 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Blue Eyes
 * Competitive Balance: Elesa's Pokémon each have various areas of talent, conveniently enough making them all the better to test her challengers with.
 * Lightning Bruiser - Zebstrika (a test to see whether her opponent can last in the battle).
 * Fragile Speedster - Emolga (not based in raw power, but tricky and tough).
 * Glass Cannon - Tynamo (can be defeated with a well-powered offence, but one must first survive its raw power and speed).
 * Cool Horse: Zebstrika.
 * Elemental Powers: She specialises in Electric types:
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Zebtrika's Double Kick.
 * Playing with Fire: Zebstrika's Flame Charge.
 * Wind from Beneath My Wings: Emolga's secondary type.
 * Even the Girls Want Her: Has a gym full of (only) female fans that blush at the sight of her, cosplay as her, and constantly scream her name... 'nuff said.
 * Everythings Nuttier With Squirrels: Her Emolga is a flying squirrel.
 * The Fashionista
 * Genki Girl: Ironic, as her game self was an Emotionless Girl.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Hey It's That Girl: She's portrayed in the English dub by Eileen Stevens (who also voices Iris, plus Zorua in Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions).
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Once she sees how powerful Pikachu is (taking out her Emolga with a single Quick Attack), the gloves come off.
 * Meaningful Name: Elesa as in electricity.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Tynamo. Dear Arceus, Tynamo...
 * True Beauty Is on the Inside: After Ash beats her, Elesa admits that she'd gotten so caught up in showing off and dazzling with her Pokémon that she forgot about the importance of trainer and Pokémon being in sync with each other's feelings.

Clay (Yacon)

 * Berserk Button: Goes into a rage when Ash has Snivy use Attract, securing an easy win against Palpitoad. See Cynical Mentor for details.
 * Brown Eyes
 * Cynical Mentor: Towards Ash - among other things, he didn't take the usual route of criticising Ash's usage of a type-disadvantaged Pokémon, and was ultimately impressed when Boldore defeated his Excadrill. Also see Self-Made Man.
 * Elemental Powers: He specialises in Ground types:
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Palpitoad and Excadrill's Rock Smash.
 * Casting a Shadow: Krokorok's secondary type.
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Excadrill's secondary type.
 * Making a Splash: Palpitoad's primary type.
 * Poisonous Pokémon: Palpitoad's Sludge Bomb.
 * Frogs and Toads: Palpitoad
 * Horn Attack: Excadrill's Horn Drill.
 * Iconic Item: His treasured pickaxe.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He brushes off Ash's challenge the first time, and the second time he criticises Ash for not knowing about Revival Herbs. Yet despite his doubts about Ash's worth, he keeps his word to battle him, acts as a Cynical Mentor with good intentions, and encourages him in the end to keep climbing upwards to reach his dream.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: To really test Ash's resolve, he sends out his strongest Pokémon, Excadrill, in the final stage of the match.
 * Mon Bites Mon: Krokorok's Bite.
 * Never Smile At a Crocodile: Krokorok
 * Nice Hat
 * Not Now, Kiddo: He appears briefly in BW059 and BW061, twice refusing to battle Ash due to varying circumstances (first time it's work; the second, he doesn't have Revival Herbs, which would guarantee the Pokémon working at his mines stay healthy). He finally accepts Ash's challenge in BW063.
 * One Hit KO: Excadrill's Horn Drill. Less than useful against Roggenrola's "Sturdy" ability, however.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He really did need those Revival Herbs, and so when Ash brought them from Milos Island he kepts his word that he'd battle him. This is despite seeming grouchy and not believing Ash would be worth battling.
 * Self-Made Man: Clay reflects that when he was a child, he worked really hard to get where he is, but most contemporary youngsters expect to attain everything with shortcuts and cheap tricks. This is precisely why he considers Ash's Snivy using Attract to be unfair rather than strategic.
 * This Is a Drill: Excadrill

Skyla (Fuuro)

 * Ace Pilot
 * Action Girl
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Blue Eyes
 * Dark-Skinned Redhead
 * Early-Bird Cameo: A rather unusual one, in that she makes her first anime appearance in the English opening of Season 15, the weekend before her first episode even airs in Japan.
 * Elemental Powers: She specializes in Flying types:
 * Hair Decorations: A propellor-like one which forms a bun on the side of her head.
 * Kana Ueda
 * Elemental Powers: She specializes in Flying types:
 * Hair Decorations: A propellor-like one which forms a bun on the side of her head.
 * Kana Ueda
 * Hair Decorations: A propellor-like one which forms a bun on the side of her head.
 * Kana Ueda
 * Hair Decorations: A propellor-like one which forms a bun on the side of her head.
 * Kana Ueda
 * Hair Decorations: A propellor-like one which forms a bun on the side of her head.
 * Kana Ueda
 * Kana Ueda
 * Kana Ueda
 * Kana Ueda

Brycen (Hachiku)

 * Blue Eyes
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Elemental Powers: He specialises in Ice-types.
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Elemental Powers: He specialises in Ice-types.
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Mask of Power
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Homika

 * Early-Bird Cameo: She is set to make her anime debut in a two-part special which will first air the week prior to the release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (her first game appearance).
 * Early-Bird Cameo: She is set to make her anime debut in a two-part special which will first air the week prior to the release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (her first game appearance).

Drayden (Shaga)

 * Badass: He handed Iris and Excadrill their first ever defeat, breaking their 99-battle winning streak.
 * Badass Beard
 * Cool Old Guy: From what we've seen of him, anyway.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Made his first appearance in Iris' flashback during BW036.
 * Fauxshadowing:
 * Elemental Powers: He uses Dragon types:
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Haxorus' Rock Smash.
 * Eyes of Gold