Pokémon Red and Blue/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


For the Pokémon introduced in these games, refer to this page.

Characters from Pokémon Red and Blue include:

Main Characters

Red and Leaf

The silent Player Character. An eleven-year old from Pallet Town who is eager to become a Pokemon trainer and set off on a journey across the world.

  • Badass: It comes with the territory when you take down the Pokemon universe's equivalent to the mafia/yakuza, become the local region's Pokemon champion, and (potentially) catch all 151 Pokemon currently known to man. And in Red's case, being the True Final Boss in the sequels helps a lot.
  • Brown Eyes: In the remakes only.
    • Black Eyes: In the original, though adaptations usually color them in as brown.
  • Coming of Age Story: At the end of the main game, Oak states that Red/Leaf's journey was one, remarking that "[he/she] has come of age."
  • Continuity Nod: Leaf herself. She was a prototype female protagonist, that few remember since the only evidence of her is early official artwork and her Pokémon Special counterpart.
  • Cute Shotaro Boy: Red, especially in his original design.
  • Cutting Off the Branches: It's Red who appears in HeartGold and SoulSilver, rather than Leaf, though it may be due to them being remakes of GSC where he was the only one to appear. He was also the canon protagonist.
  • Curtains Match the Window
  • Dangerously-Short Skirt: Leaf's skirt just barely covers her knees. It's even shorter than Dawn's infamous skirt.
  • Development Gag: Leaf herself. She is a tweaked version of a first-generation female protagonist that never made it into the original games due to technological limitations (The original design was reused as Blue(JP)/Green(Eng) in the Special manga).
  • Disappeared Dad: He's mentioned once when you check out the televisions in Celadon Department Store, but he never appears.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Due to the unchanged dialogue, this happens with Leaf.
  • Fan Nickname: Leaf, actually. She has never been given an official name, although a beta double battle partner named Leaf was found in the data.
    • Leaf also sometimes gets called "Fuguri" (from Rīfugurīn) among the Japanese fans.
    • Red's FRLG incarnation is occasionally called "Fire" in the English-speaking fandom to separate his new design from his old one. He's almost universally referred to as "Fire" or "FireRed" by Japanese-speaking fans.
  • The Hero: In Gen II and the Gen IV remakes, Red is often referred to as this.
  • Heroic Mime: When you actually speak to Red in G/S/C/HG/SS, his speech is quite seriously "..."
  • Hime Cut: Leaf in her original design.
  • Hot-Blooded: Red, according to his counterparts, at least one in-game line, (possibly, due to its vagueness) the manual, and an old comic drawn by Sugimori.
    • Taking the extended storyline of FRLG into consideration, Leaf and Red both certainly count when a rather intimidated thief makes a remark about the way he/she is glaring at them.
  • Little Black Dress: Leaf in her original design, complete with white gloves and matching shoes.
  • Nice Hat
  • Perpetual Frowner: Red's redesign gives him a permanent, somewhat ugly scowl on his face.
  • Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The Vs. Seekers, but only in the official artwork. In the game, you still get a blue one as Leaf.
  • Plucky Girl: Leaf, as shown by her original artwork.
  • Remake Dye Job: In Generations I and II, Red has black hair, but this is made into light brown hair in Generations III and IV.
  • Schrödinger's Player Character: Pick one of them in FRLG, and the other won't appear. In the series as a whole, Red is the canonical protagonist.
  • Self Fanservice: The fandom draws Red's original design as being a slick, red eyed, Bishonen with combed hair and a poker face(Who bears a striking resemblance to Lelouch Vi Britannia). In the original games though (even post Time Skip) he is unruly looking, with his hair and bangs, with Hot-Blooded undertones. He fit Cute Shotaro Boy more than anything. His FRLG design is usually drawn much, much cuter than he actually appears, as opposed to the scowling, determined-looking boy he's seen as in almost all of his canon appearances.
  • Suddenly Voiced: Red/Leaf, unlike future heroes, actually makes the odd internal comment when examining objects (where future Player Characters merely get descriptions), such as mentioning his/her dad when you check out the televisions in the Celadon Department Store, and remarks that s/he "should get going" when you examine the TV in his/her house and notes that they "better not touch it" when examining various pieces of technology. He/She also talks to Copycat... maybe.
  • What Could Have Been: Game Freak wanted to program the option to play as a female way back in Red and Green, but wouldn't be able to until Crystal. Leaf had a different design with a Little Black Dress, White Gloves, and - unlike every protagonist in the main series - no Nice Hat.
    • The prototypical Red from "Capsule Monsters" still has a Nice Hat and black hair but he lacks Red's coat and his hair is not as messy.
  • White Gloves: Leaf's original design.

Blue Oak (Green)

The Rival of the Player Character. He was once the best friend of Red/Leaf, but as he grew up he changed into a huge Jerkass. Though abrasive and cocky, he has the skills to back up his boasts and has set his sights on nothing less than becoming the Pokemon League Champion.

  • Adaptational Attractiveness: In the remakes. in the original art he was a downright punchable brat, but the remakes art portrays him as a pretty boy with an only somewhat punchable face.
  • Always Someone Better: He always shows up ahead of you, even up to beating the Elite Four before you and being the Final Boss.
    • His remake artwork plays with this and portrays him holding an Ultra Ball rather than a Pokéball like the protagonists.
  • Anime Hair
  • Break the Haughty: When you beat him and end his short reign as Champion. Professor Oak telling him that he stands no chance of becoming the Champion again in his current state adds salt to the wound.
  • Catch Phrase: "Smell ya later!"
    • Arguably, "Whatever!" come HGSS.
  • Character Development: More so noticeable in FRLG. In the credits, he seems to be thinking about himself and his Pokémon after being told off by his grandfather and being beaten by you. In GSC/HGSS he is fairly less of a Jerkass.
    • He is also much more mature and seems to have learned how to take care of his pokemon. This is evident when his Pigeot uses Return, a Normal attack that becomes stronger the more the Pokemon likes its user.
  • Continuity Nod: In the original games, his sprite as the Champion had him wearing a jacket, which isn't seen again in the second generation or the first generation remakes, but returns in his design for the second generation remakes.
  • Dub Name Change: To follow with the games' localized titles.
  • Final Boss
  • Foe Yay: Some of his actions toward Red/Leaf can be seen as this, but in HGSS, he will call the player at oftentimes ungodly hours to tell them about Red and awkwardly stutter about how they look like Red. "Just... Just a little! Whatever... Click!"
  • Informed Attribute: For his Champion battle, he claims to have built a team that can take down any Pokémon type. The team he uses for that battle is practically the same team that you've been trouncing in your previous battles.
  • In the Blood: His grandfather is a Pokémon researcher, and his sister was a superb coordinator (plus she's pretty good with making tea), so there's little surprise when it comes to his personality and achievements.
  • It's All About Me: His downfall is that he thinks so much about himself that he forgets to treat his Pokémon with love and respect. For the entire game he views Pokémon as nothing more than cool powerful creatures that can do whatever he wants for him and help him become Champion.
  • Jerkass: Good lord. He constantly talks down to you, brags all the time, does nothing to help the Silph Co. employees that have been taken hostage by Team Rocket when he's mroe than capable of doing so, swipes the Eevee that was meant for you in Yellow, and just acts like an all around prick. There's a reason why so many people name him Dicks, Asshole, and other such names in these games.
  • Leitmotif: A rather irritating little jingle plays whenever he swaggers onto the scene.
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: Good luck trying to beat the game without accidentally finding out from somewhere that Blue is the Champion.
  • Parental Abandonment: No mention is ever made of his parents, meaning that the Professor (and Daisy) are stuck raising him.
  • The Rival: He is the player's rival, and both fight a lot of times through the game, with Blue being always a step ahead of Red and being a jerk with him.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The guidebook for Red and Blue explains that he was Red's best friend until shortly before the time of the game, where he started to become a bully. Despite this, there's still times where he talks to you like an old friend.
  • Weapon of Choice: Quite obviously, it's whatever starter has the type of advantage over yours.
    • He also always has a consistent triumvirate of Gyarados, Arcanine, and Exeggutor in his appearances through the series.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: An almost literal example in his Raticate. He's first seen with it as a Ratatta, and it's still on his team in its fully evolved form on the S.S. Anne, but when you fight him in Pokemon Tower and beyond, it's nowhere to be seen. Some fans like to think that you killed it, but it's more than likely that he simply boxed it due to Raticate being painfully average.

Professor Oak (Dr. Okido)

A scientist who studies Pokémon and gives you your starter. He is also your rival's grandfather and the creator of the Pokédex.

  • Absent-Minded Professor: He doesn't even remember his own grandson's name and has to be reminded by the player at the beginning of the game.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows
  • Cool Old Guy: He's very friendly to the player character, is one of the world's top Pokemon researchers, and was even a skilled trainer back in his day!
  • I Was Quite a Looker: In her own words, Agatha of the Elite Four describes him as once being tough and handsome in his younger years.
  • Mr. Exposition: He introduces you into the basic mechanics and concepts of Pokémon world in this games.
  • Retired Badass: According to Agatha. While functional trainer data for him exists in Red, Blue, and Yellow (as well as data for a trainer class (but no team data) for him in FireRed and LeafGreen), it's impossible to fight him without utilization of cheating devices or glitches. Interestingly enough, his team is tied with Mewtwo in terms of level and, unlike every opponent save for Blue, has a decent array of types.
    • Badass Grandpa: If you manage to fight him, he proves himself a literal example of this. Plus his anime counterpart had a Dragonite!
  • Theme Naming: Oak kicks off the tradition of naming the regional professors after trees.
  • What Could Have Been: As mentioned above, there is leftover data in the game's coding for a trainer battle with him. Given how powerful his Pokémon were, it's more than likely he would have either been the Final Boss or a Bonus Boss.

Side characters

Bill (Masaki Sonezaki)

The creator of the computarized sistem of Pokémon storage that the player uses in the game. You find him in a house outside of Cerulean City, and you help him to fix an accident that he had with his teleport. He gives you a ticket to go to the SS. Anne, and in Fire Red and Green Leaf, he takes you to visit Sevii Islands after defeating Blaine in Cinnabar Gym.

  • Accent Adaptation: He speaks with a Kansai accent in the Japanese versions and a southern one in the English ones.
  • Baleful Polymorph: When you first meet him, he has been turned into a Pokémon (specifically Clefairy in the remakes) due to a Teleporter Accident. He gets better.
  • Does Not Like Milk: according to Celio in the Sevii Islands.
  • Kansai Regional Accent
  • Lolicon: Refers to Leaf as "beautiful" in the remakes. It's one of the few lines changed for a female player character (he refers to Red as "chief"), in contrast to the large number of flirting from the (roughly same aged) female characters in the game.
  • MacGuffin Delivery Service: in FireRed and LeafGreen, an extra quest was added after the Cinnabar Gym battle that has Bill take you to the first three islands in the Sevii Archipelago to deliver a meteorite.
  • Teleporter Accident: You meet him after he accidentally fusioned with a Pokémon for an accident with his teleporter, and you help him to became a human again.

Daisy Oak (Nanami)

She is Blue's sister and Professor Oak's granddaughter, and gives you a map to use in your adventure despite Blue said her to not do it.

  • Cool Big Sis: Sister of Blue, and a lot nicer than him as well. She gives you a Town Map and even offers to massage your Pokemon later on!
  • Friend to All Living Things: She's very good with Pokemon, and can make them friendlier by massaging them.
  • Hidden Depths: It wasn't until the remakes, but examine the right bookshelf and you'll discover that Daisy's a former Contest champion. No wonder she's so good at grooming Pokémon.
  • Nice Girl: As noted above she's very kind, which is surprising seeing who her brother is.
  • Spot of Tea: She's very fond of drinking tea as revealed in HG/SS

Copycat

Mr. Fuji

  • The Atoner: It's suggested at a few points that he was involved in Mewtwo's creation.
  • Cool Old Guy: He takes care of abandoned Pokemon, and even hikes all the way to the top of a haunted tower where the spirits have been going nuts so he can lay the ghost of a particularly vengeful Marowak to rest.
  • Friend to All Living Things: He takes care of abandoned and orphaned Pokemon. Just look at this picture.
  • Mad Scientist: There's a picture of him on Cinnabar Island with the description "Dr. Fuji?!?!" He was also old friends with Blaine, and is suspected to have been involved with the creation of Mewtwo.
  • Nice Guy: He's very warm and friendly to people and Pokemon alike.
  • Wasteland Elder: Of the somber, somewhat lonely Lavender Town.

The Gym Leaders

The Pokémon trainers who have the autority to give Gym Signs to who defeat them in their Gyms. You need to defeat them all to be allowed to go to the Pokémon League.

  • Punny Name: In spades.
  • Sobriquet: Each Gym Leader has a title associated with them that is labelled on their Gym Signs. The only exception to this is Giovanni, for obvious reasons.

Brock (Takeshi)

Pewter Gym Leader--The Rock-Solid Pokémon Trainer!

He is the Pewter Gym Leader. He specializes in Rock-Ground-type, and is the first gym leader that the player fights. His main pokémon is Onix.

  • Adaptational Badass: His Fire Red/Leaf Green team fixes a big issue with his original team: they didn't have Rock moves. Now they do, and it's specifically the speed-cutting, decently powerful Rock Tomb, which still doesn't make him hard but means that he'll be able to put up something of a fight against Charmander and other non Squirtle/Bulbasaur Pokemon.
  • Ambiguously Brown: More apparent in the anime where he has a very tanned complexion, but in the games his skin's still a noticeable shade of light brown.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows
  • Counterpart Comparison: Brock would prove to be this to Gen 3's Roxanne. Both are the first Gym Leaders you fight in their respective games, and their teams have both a Geodude and a tougher Rock type with high Defense but otherwise middling stats. Both would even get a Steel-type evolution one generation after their debut to boot!
  • Damage Sponge Boss: If you didn't start with Squirtle or Bulbasaur, his Onix is this since his high Defense means he can take plenty of physical hits.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Exclusively trains Rock types.
  • Early Bird Boss: In Red/Green/Blue, only Pikachu, Butterfree, Beedrill (the latter two requiring Level Grinding), and Com Mons are found before Brock. Tough luck if your starter is Charmander. Fixed in every game after. Yellow adds Mankey and the Nidoran lines before him (now with an early Double Kick!) while FireRed/LeafGreen add Mankey and give Charmander Metal Claw. Then in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, Pikachu gets Double Kick just in time for you to fight him.
  • Eyes Always Shut
  • Fossil Revival: In the Johto games, he'll have Omastar and Kabutops in his initial team, and later games and rematches in the remakes will also see him with Aerodactyl and Rampardos.
  • Fountain of Expies: A more mild example than most, but he did kickstart a trend Roxanne and Roark would follow where the first Gym Leader is a Rock specialist with a Geodude on their team.
  • The Generic Guy: Fans of the anime will be surprised by Brock's rather lacking characterization in the games. He isn't girl-crazy or nice, yet snarky, just a generically nice, if competitive Gym Leader.
  • Improbable Power Discrepancy: One Gym Leader with Pokémon at level 12 and 14. Not so in the sequels and their remakes, however, suggesting that the Gym Leaders might use Gym-specific teams.
  • Meaningful Name: Brock.
  • Personality Powers: Lampshaded in the pre-battle quote, where he compares his determination with the Rock type's defensive nature.
  • Prehistoric Monster: Like his Fossil Revival entry mentions, Brock starts using prehistoric Pokemon in his teams in later games. It's a perk that comes with regularly helping out with fossil excavations.
  • Scissors Cuts Rock: In theory, he's supposed to teach new players how to make one's team adapt to type changes, which is most apparent if you started with Charmander who is weak to his Rock types. Problem is, in the original games his Pokemon don't actually have Rock moves, but rather Bide which is easy to render useless if you wait it out with non-damaging attacks. While resisted, Charmander's Ember still does decent damage since Geodude and Onix have godawful Special Defense meaning that you can handily beat him just fine with Charmander as long as you're careful not to run afoul of Bide. Fire Red and Leaf Green partially fix this by giving his Pokemon Rock Tomb, but Charmander also gets the super-effective Metal Claw to compensate.
  • Signature Move: Bide in the originals (Which wasn't actually a Rock type move oddly enough, just a Normal-type counter attack), and Rock Tomb in the remakes.
  • Rock Based Pokemon: Both his Geodude and his Onix.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: In the original games, his sprite showed that he doesn't wear a shirt. This was changed as early as Yellow, which gave him an outfit more in line with his anime counterpart.
  • Wake Up Call Boss: If you've forgone other Pokemon in favor of training just your Pikachu in Yellow, you're in for a rude awakening: Onix and Geodude's Ground sub-typing mean that Thundershock won't even scratch him, and Pikachu's wimpy Tackle will barely put a dent in their rock-solid defenses.
  • Warmup Boss: He's the first gym leader, and as to be expected, he isn't hard in the slightest as his Pokemon are very weak to two of the starters, and even Charmander (who they have a type advantage over) can still run circles around them thanks to his high Special Attack and their low Special Defense. In the remakes where they're more imposing thanks to actually possessing Rock moves this time around, Charmander gets Iron Claw which still makes them pretty easy to beat.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: When the player doesn't choose Charmander, he is pretty easy to defeat in RBG and their remakes.
  • Weapon of Choice: Both Onix and the Geodude line share this status.


Misty (Kasumi)

Cerulean Gym Leader--The Tomboyish Mermaid!

She is Cerulean Gym Leader. She specializes in Water-type pokémon, and her main pokémon is Starmie.

  • Artificial Stupidity: In the original games, she looooooves boosting her Starmie's physical stats... even though it's a tried and true Special Attacker. It can really help players get a leg up in an otherwise very difficult fight.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Comes with the territory when you fight in a bikini.
  • Call Forward: In Gold, Silver, and Crystal, you meet Misty while she's on a date at Cerulean Cape. Fire Red and Leaf Green reference this with one of her Fame Checker entries stating that she hopes to go on a date in that very spot one day.
  • Date Peepers: She really, really hates these, and will give you an earful for spooking her date when you meet her in the Johto games.
  • Difficulty Spike: Hoo BOY. Her Starmie is a huge step up from anything you've fought up to this point, and you won't have any good options that are guaranteed to take it out. And since it's a longtime OU mainstay in competitive battling, that's a very, very bad thing.
  • Fan Girl: To Lorelei.
  • Fiery Redhead: She's perky and excitable, and is furious when her date is interrupted in Gold and Silver.
  • Hartman Hips: Pokemon Masters really went all out in making her hips noticeably curvy.
  • Hot-Blooded: Best shown in her sprite animation in HG/SS, where she bounces up and down and pumps a fist into the air.
  • Improbable Power Discrepancy: Her training place is Seafoam Islands. The Pokémon in Seafoam Islands are higher-leveled than hers. Given that this line is even in the original games, it's probably the first hint that Gym Leaders use Pokemon teams specific to their Gyms, given that later games allow for Gym Leader rematches with all Gym Leaders being around the same levels.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Trains two of them, but Starmie especially. It's very fast and hits hard with Bubblebeam/Water Pulse/Scald. It also has Recover in Fire Red and Leaf Green, so if the player doesn't hit it hard enough or doesn't have a priority move, Starmie will just heal off the damage immediately in the next turn.
  • Making a Splash: She's a Water type Gym Leader, what did you expect?
  • Meaningful Name: Misty.
  • Ms. Fanservice: She's a redhead who walks around in a bikini and sandals, and even her more modest outfits tend to show off her belly. Then there's Masters, which gives her deliciously wide hips.
  • Mythology Gag: In Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, she has a Psyduck on her team, an obvious reference to her hilariously dopey Psyduck from the anime.
  • Shorttank: Wears her iconic outfit from the anime in Yellow, and Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee has a recolored version minus the suspenders.
  • Signature Move: Bubblebeam in Red/Blue/Yellow, Water Pulse in Fire Red/Leaf Green, and Scald in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. Along with being moderately powerful, all these moves also have a bonus effect that will hamper the opponent.
  • Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Has high hopes for finding a boyfriend or at least getting a date at the Cerulean Cape.
  • Tomboy: It's right there in her nickname.
  • Walking Swimsuit Scene: All official artwork and sprites show her with a swimsuit, and just that unlike in the sequel games.
    • Averted with her Yellow sprite, which is the only sprite to not feature her in a swimsuit. This is because of the game itself being a Recursive Adaptation of the anime, so both Brock and Misty look closer to their anime counterparts. Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee would bring back this outfit, albeit colored differently and sans suspenders.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Misty's Starmie will absolutely rip you to shreds, showing that she's more than a few cuts above Brock since you can't just throw her weakness at her and call it a day: Pikachu and whatever Grass types you have at the start won't have moves strong enough to really put the hurt on it, and Starmie's high Special Attack means it can still punch holes through them. And in both remakes, Starmie's signature move has a high chance of either confusing your Pokemon with Water Pulse, or burning you with Scald, which is nasty since both moves are already decently strong.
  • Weapon of Choice: Starmie, to the point to where she only uses the Starmie line during her gym battle in the original Kanto games and their first remakes.


Lt. Surge (Mathis)

Vermilion Gym Leader--The Lightning American!

He's the Vermilion Gym Leader, and specializes in electric Pokémon, using a Raichu as main Pokémon.

  • Ace Pilot: Apparently was one. He used his electric Pokemon to power his planes.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Surge does not have good luck with incarnations in other media. His anime counterpart isn't evil, but a colossal prick who takes a lot of joy out of stomping his opponents into the dirt and humiliating them. The Pokemon Special/Adventures manga on the other hand has him as a full-on bad guy working for Team Rocket who almost drowns Red during their first fight.
  • The Artifact: His sobriquet is a weird one, referring to him as "The Lightning American". It wasn't originally weird since the first games made plenty of references to real places and animals such as Tiksi and Indian elephants. But later games would phase those out so the world would be more of its own thing, but Surge's title persisted even after a proper America analogue was introduced in the form of the Unova region. It would take until the Let's Go games to finally change his title, but it's now "The Lightning Lieutenant" instead of, say, "The Lightning Unovan".
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: In the manga, definitely. In the games and anime though, he's just competitive and aggressive.
  • Characterization Marches On: He's a lot more mellow in the Johto games, meaning that he's had time to let his cockier attitude wane a bit.
  • Cool Shades: Wears a pair in the Johto games and their remakes.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: He's a very gruff and aggressive military man, and gives you an attitude before you fight him.
  • Eagle Land: Type 1: he's not a bad guy at all and inspired loyalty in his troops, leading to at least one of them becoming a Gym trainer.
  • Expy: Intentionally or not, he serves as one to Guile from Street Fighter: He's a proud American with spiky blond hair, a (former) military man, and some of his Pokemon can use the move Sonicboom. The remakes ramp this up by giving him shades and dressing him in a green tank top like Guile.
  • A Father to His Men: As one of the Gym Trainers tells the player, Lt. Surge saved his life back during the war. He has since pledged Undying Loyalty to him.
  • Fragile Speedster: His Pokemon are faster than most, but they still can't quite take a hit.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Designed the gate puzzle in his Gym.
  • Glass Cannon: Comes with training Electric-type Pokemon: his Raichu in Yellow is brutally powerful in particular but can't take a lot of hits.
  • Gratuitous English: Lt. Surge, who is stated to be American, uses several English words in the Japanese versions of games featuring him.
  • Large Ham: He's a very boisterous, larger-than-life opponent.
  • Meaningful Name: Surge, as in electric surge.
  • Patriotic Fervor: His title proudly reflects on his American heritage pre-Let's Go.
  • Phenotype Stereotype: Like most Americans in Japanese media, he's a blonde guy with blue eyes.
  • Rated "M" for Manly: He's a hot-blooded military man with big muscles, cool sunglasses, and loves nothing more than to electrocute his enemies into submission. Easily one of the coolest, manliest Gym Leaders in the series, hands down.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: As manly as he is, he loves adorable electric rodent Pokemon like Pikachu and Pachirisu. He'll even gush over the Pikachu you show him when you're getting his phone number in HG/SS.
  • Mirror Boss: Kinda, in Yellow he only uses a high-level Raichu while you've got Pikachu as your main Pokemon. You don't have to fight him this way (And it's highly recommended that you DON'T) but you're certainly welcome to try.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size: His signature Raichu.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Why he makes you solve a puzzle to unlock a gate to get to him: it isn't dwelled upon but it's mentioned in passing that he's become paranoid likely as a result of wartime trauma.
  • Shock and Awe: It's right there in the name!
  • Signature Move: The almighty Thunderbolt, though it was changed to Shock Wave in Gens 3 and 4. It's a weaker move, but will never miss barring certain circumstances.
  • Troll: Why else would he force you to waste time looking through trash cans looking for a randomly generated switch that unblocks the path to him?
  • Weapon of Choice: Raichu, to the point that it's his only Pokemon in Yellow.


Erika

Celadon Gym Leader--The Nature-Loving Princess!

Erika is the Celadon Gym Leader. She uses plant type Pokémon, and is in a Gym that looks like a garden. Her Gym apparently allows women only, but she accepts to fight against the player.

  • Acceptable Feminine Goals: Practices flower arranging and is the embodiment of a true Yamato Nadeshiko, but also runs a Pokemon Gym and uses it in order to teach this practice to other women.
  • Amazon Brigade: Her Gym trainers are all beautiful women and girls. Whether there's a deeper meaning to it or not is left up in the air.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Her Gym is all-female, and she doesn't seem to like having men in it - but makes an "exception" for the protagonist. Her Gym badge just happens to be rainbow themed too.
  • Artificial Stupidity: She can certainly be dangerous in Gen 1 due to most of her Pokemon knowing the dreaded Wrap... but she can also really fall prey to Gen 1's infamously terrible AI if you use a Grass/Poison type of your own against her Victreebel and Vileplume. Gen 1's AI will always select super-effective moves if your Pokemon are weak to them... but doesn't actually take context or move type into account, meaning that her Grass/Poison types will ineffectively spam Poison Powder against your Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur because Poison beats Grass, but will do nothing since their Poison subtyping will nullify it.
  • Dub Name Change: Notably the only Gym leader in the franchise to AVOID this, until Iris in Pokémon Black and White.
  • Granola Girl: She's a gentle, peaceful girl who's very in-tune with nature.
  • Green Thumb: Not only is she a Grass type specialist, but she's got a knack for gardening, too.
  • Hair Decorations: Always sports a headband.
  • Heavy Sleeper: Apparently has some mild form of narcolepsy. She almost dozes off before her battle with the player.
  • Hungry Jungle: Her Pokemon in her Kanto team invoke this in one way or another: Victreebel is a giant pitcher plant heavily hinted to eat humans who stumble upon its jungle territory, Vileplume wanders jungles while scattering horribly toxic pollen that can cause paralysis and allergy attacks, and while it isn't aggressive or otherwise dangerous, Tangela's appearance invokes something hiding in thick jungle undergrowth and staring at explorers.
  • Kimono Fanservice: She's a beautiful girl who wears kimonos, and in the Gen 3 and 4 games, they're furoside, which are worn by unmarried women.
  • Lady of War: She's a graceful and beautiful woman, as well as one of the strongest trainers in all of Kanto.
  • Life Drain: Her TM move is either Mega or Giga Drain depending on the game, both of which deal damage while healing the user.
  • Meaningful Name: Not at first glance, but Erika is a genus of plant.
  • Mighty Glacier: Her Tangela and Vileplume are slow, but hit hard.
  • The Ojou: Explicitly called such in the Japanese version, and this trope is a part of her official title.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
  • Signature Move: As mentioned above, Mega Drain in the original games, Giga Drain otherwise.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: Despite her breathtaking beauty and submissive demeanor, she had the potential to be a very dangerous opponent in Gen 1 if her Pokemon landed Wrap on yours. In those games Wrap trapped your Pokemon and would keep them from doing anything until it wore off. And if she cut their speed with paralysis or otherwise outsped them, she could trap them in an agonizingly slow loop of being Wrapped until they fainted.
  • Weapon of Choice: Two flavors: she heavily favors the Oddish family tree, but tends to use members of the Bellsprout family that are on par with them.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: She's a picture-perfect example of a graceful and submissive Japanese woman.


Koga (Kyou)

Fuchsia Gym Leader--The Poisonous Ninja Master!

Koga is the Fuchsia Gym Leader. He specializes in Poisonous-type pokémon.

  • Adaptational Villainy: Like with Surge and Sabrina, he's a Team Rocket elite in the Adventures manga while he isn't evil in the slightest.
  • Artificial Stupidity: His Skuntank in HG/SS accidentally falls prey to this: his only proper attacking move is Dig while his other moves are a lot more situational. Skuntank is only weak to Ground moves, and when he digs, he becomes twice as weak to Earthquake, which you're likely to have. Do the math.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Venonat and Venomoth are the only Pokemon he uses in Yellow.
  • Combat Medic: As a master of poison techniques, he also has a large amount of knowledge over medicine and apparently heals his Pokemon with concoctions of his own.
  • Evil Laugh: "Fwahahahahahaha!"
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has a sadistic love of rendering his opponents helpless with his Pokemon's status moves, but he's still an otherwise good man. He even patrols the Safari Zone regularly to ensure that the game is safe for all of the entrants to play.
  • Large Ham: He loves to intimidate the player with menacing laughter, and gets poetic about his love of leaving enemy Pokemon helpless with his tricky ninja techniques.
  • The Maze: Uses an invisible maze in his Gym to force the player into Pokemon battles while walking around. The maze itself isn't 100% invisible but can mess with players who don't look too closely.
  • Meaningful Name: Named after the Koga-ryu school of ninjutsu.
  • Mighty Glacier: His multiple Koffing, a Muk, and his signature Weezing in RBY and their remakes: they aren't fast in the slightest, but hit hard and are built to last. Yellow replaces them with the squishier Venonat and Venomoth, respectively.
  • Ninja: Of the highly visible variety.
  • Poisonous Person: Comes with being a Poison specialist.
  • Sequel Difficulty Spike: In Red and Blue, his highest leveled Pokemon was a level 43 Weezing that while definitely high, isn't too ridiculous for when he appears. His strongest Pokemon in Yellow? A LEVEL 50 VENOMOTH. When Erika before him had her strongest at level 32. Needless to say, the level spike more than makes up for Venomoth's mediocrity as a Pokemon.
  • Signature Move: Toxic, which slowly deals more and more damage to your Pokemon the longer its poisoned. It's all too appropriate given his love of cruel tactics.
  • Taking You with Me: He uses a Weezing, sometimes as his last Pokémon. The AI is not averse to using Explosion if this is the case. This results in the player losing if you only have one Pokemon left.
    • Though you could get some laughs out of the AI using Explosion against your Gastly. (Explosion: Normal type; Gastly: Ghost/Poison; Result: no damage at all)
  • Weapon of Choice: Weezing or Venomoth, depending on the game.

Sabrina (Natsume)

Saffron Gym Leader--The Master of Psychic Pokémon!

Sabrina is the Saffron Gym Leader. She specializes in psychic Pokémon, with an Alakazam as main fighter. Yet, Sabrina does not like fighting.

  • Adaptational Villainy: Poor Sabrina has this just as bad as Surge does: along with being yet another Rocket-affiliated Gym Leader in Adventures, she's a freaky psychopath with a split personality who likes to terrorize people with her Psychic powers in the anime. It even bleeds into Black 2/White 2 when she's an actress, and plays an evil queen in a PokeStar Studios production.
  • Badass Pacifist: She doesn't like fighting, but when she does, watch out. Her Pokemon hit hard, and in Gen 1, Psychic types were hilariously unbalanced and overpowered making her one of, if not THE most dangerous opponent in your Pokemon adventre.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Wears a tank top in HG/SS that shows off her belly button.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: She uses a Venomoth in the Kanto games. Why she does this in a region full of Psychic types is anyone's guess.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Delivered one to the Fighting Dojo next to her Gym.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: She's one of several trainers shown with whips in the original games, which would be abandoned save for the Tamer trainer class.
  • Glass Cannon: Her team of Psychic Pokemon: none of them are good at taking hits, but BOY can they dish out the punishment.
  • Hartman Hips: Has some seriously curvy hips in the later games.
  • Hime Cut: Quiet, serious, and dislikes fighting.
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: She plays a sadistic, evil queen in movies, but is a good person despite what various adaptations would have you believe.
  • Meaningful Name: Probably, if her name is a reference to "Sabrina the Teenaged Witch" like people speculate.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Oh yeah. A stern, beautiful woman with a curvy body and tight clothes that show it off? Sabrina is easily one of the hottest Gym Leaders in the series.
  • My Friends and Zoidberg: Her team in the Kanto games has a Kadabra, a Mr. Mime, an Alakazam... and a Venomoth. For some reason. And unlike other Gym Leaders or Elite Four members who use Pokemon outside of their typings out of necessity, she has no such excuse because there are so many Psychic types she could use! Jynx, Exeggutor, Slowbro, Hypno...
    • The Let's Go games would fix this by putting a Jynx and Slowbro on her team which make it a proper Psychic team and cut down on the redundancy by eliminating Kadabra to boot.
  • Psychic Powers: Not only do her Pokémon have these, but she possesses them as well. She also claims that everyone has psychic powers, but that tragically few people even realize it.
  • The Quiet One: Not much of a talker.
  • Rapunzel Hair: Not as extreme as some future characters, but it's there.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: She isn't villainous (in this continuity anyway), but she is a very difficult opponent to face, especially in the first Generation with Psychic being as broken as it was.
  • Reluctant Warrior: She constantly goes on about how she doesn't like to fight but she will if she must. It makes you curious why she's a Gym leader, then (most likely so she can train people to be psychic and being a Gym leader is the easiest, or only, way).
  • Signature Move: Her TM move depending on the games is either the inconsistent Psywave, the dangerous stat-boosting Calm Mind, or the ability-switching Skill Swap.
  • The Stoic: Is stern and emotionless to a fault.
  • Weapon of Choice: Alakazam, which was one of the most dangerous Pokemon in the Gen 1 metagame. She uses the entire family in Yellow. Even Abra!
  • Whip It Good: Only in the original games.


Blaine (Katsura)

Cinnabar Gym Leader--The Hotheaded Quiz Master!

He is Cinnabar Gym Leader. His speciality is Fire-type. To fight with him, the player has to find the key of the gym in the Pokémon Mansion at Cinnabar Island.

  • Artificial Brilliance: All his Pokemon in HG/SS know Overheat, which is ridiculously powerful but severely weakens their Special Attack as a tradeoff... or would if it weren't for the White Herbs he gave them. Their Special Attack stat will still take a hit after it's used up, but they're guaranteed to get two full-power uses off unless the player thinks outside the box with situational moves to get rid of the herbs.
  • Badass Grandpa: He's the second strongest Gym Leader in the Kanto region, and his Pokemon all know the devastatingly powerful Fire Blast/Overheat.
  • Badass Labcoat
  • Badass Mustache: Badass enough to make Dr. Robotnik envious, I'm sure.
  • Bald of Awesome
  • Cool Old Guy: You better believe it. He's not only a skilled Pokemon trainer, but energetic to boot.
  • Cool Shades: Just look at them!
  • Deus Ex Machina: A literal example in his backstory, where he was hopelessly lost in the mountains until a Moltres saved his life by helping him find a path to safety with the light of its body's flames.
  • Eccentric Mentor: If you want to challenge him, you'll have to go through a gauntlet of trivia questions first. Then, the Let's Go games turn him into a full-on game show host!
  • Fragile Speedster: His Ponyta and Rapidash.
  • Hot-Blooded: Surprisingly so for an old guy, as mentioned in his title. The TCG even had a Trainer Card called "Fervor" dedicated to his hot-bloodedness. Both of these explicitly use the phrase "hot-blooded" in Japanese.
  • Lightning Bruiser: His two canine Pokemon, but mostly this applies to Arcanine. It's fairly sturdy, hits hard with both of its high attack stats, and is very speedy to top it off.
  • Meaningful Name: Blaine sounds a lot like Blaze.
  • Nice Hat: Wears a stylish hat that compliments his spiffy attire in HG/SS.
  • Personality Powers: Read Hot-Blooded above.
  • Playing with Fire: A fire-type specialist, whose signature move is to overwhelm opponents with powerful bursts of fire.
  • Pop Quiz: Forces the player to endure several before fighting him.
  • Signature Move: Fire Blast originally, Overheat otherwise. Both are ridiculously hard-hitting moves but come with a catch: Fire Blast has a decent chance of missing and Overheat will severely wear down the user's Special Attack power.
  • The Atoner: Implied to have been involved in Mewtwo's creation. More present in adaptations, though.
  • Weapon of Choice: Arcanine, Rapidash, and Magmar are all prominent members of team in various games and adaptations.


Giovanni (Sakaki)

Boss of Team Rocket and the Viridian Gym Leader (no subtitle).

Giovanni is the Big Bad in this game. You fight him at Game Corner in Celadon City, Silph S.A. in Saffron City, and the Viridian City Gym.


Elite Four

Lorelei (Kanna)

The first Elite Four member you fight. She specializes in ice Pokémon. In Fire Red and Leaf Green, you find her in Four Island, and she lives there.


Bruno (Shiba)

The second member of Elite Four that the player fights. He specializes in Fighting-type pokémon.


Agatha (Kikuko)

The third member of the Elite Four that the player fights. She specializes in Ghost-type and Poison-type pokémon. She used to be Professor Oak's rival when both were younger.

  • Cool Old Gal: Once she's warmed up to you, she's a lot nicer.
  • Epic Fail: In the original games, her strongest Gengar knows Dream Eater... but doesn't have Hypnosis. For some reason. Since Dream Eater is useless unless the victim is asleep, it's essentially a wasted move.
  • Grumpy Old Woman: She shows a nicer side once you beat her, but when you meet her she arrogantly scoffs at Professor Oak for abandoning his career as a trainer in favor of Pokemon research, and is quite mean otherwise.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Or she'll sic her frickin' Arbok on you.
  • Poisonous Person: Her official main type is Ghost, but due to the rarity of that type, a Golbat and Arbok were added to her team, and she even has a Weezing in the Let's Go games.
    • Due to the poison subtype of the Gengar family, her entire team is of the poison type. But not all of the ghost type, ironically enough. This is mitigated somewhere in FR/LG where she gets a Misdreavus added to her rematch team.
  • The Rival: To Prof. Oak in their young times.
  • Soul Power: Comes with being a ghost specialist.
  • Weapon of Choice: Gengar, to the point of having two on her team, as well as a Haunter, though in that case it was out of necessity due to Kanto's woefully tiny pool of Ghost types.


Lance (Wataru)

The last member of the Elite Four that the player fights before the Champion. He specializes in Dragon-type pokémon.

Other Trainers

Bikers and Roughnecks

Motorcycles drivers. Bikers use to have Poison-type pokémon and Roughnecks usually have Fighting-type pokémon. They're the unique trainer classes in Cycling Road in these games.

  • Ascended Extra: Downplayed in Fire Red and Green Leaf. In Red and Blue, they are just normal trainers to fight and the most of them can be evaded. Yet, in Fire Red and Green Leaf, they go to Three Island to annoy it's people, and the player has to defeat them to pass and continue with the Fetch Quest there.
  • Jerkass: They use to be rude when defy the player to fight. Also, in Fire Red and Leaf Green, a gang of these go to Three Island to annoy local people, until the player defeat them.
  • Poisonous Person: Bikers specialize in Poison-type pokémon (specifically Grimer, Muk, Koffing and Weezing), though one uses a Voltorb (electric-type pokémon).

Channelers

A group of channelers that are in Pokémon Tower and Saffron Gym. Pokémon Tower channelers are possessed by ghosts, but Saffron Gym channelers aren't.

  • Demonic Possession: In Pokémon Tower, they talk in a strange way and one of them (at least in Generation I) asks for the player's soul. When Red defeats them (and they use Ghost-type pokémon only), they use to say they were possessed and thank the player for freeing them.
  • Irony: An irony induced by translation. In the translations to Spanish, French, German and (Brazilian, at least) Portuguese, their trainer class is named with the respective word for "exorcist", [1], not "channeler", so the players who play in those languages see a situation where ghosts possessed people that are supposed to free the ones who are possessed by ghosts. What is more ironic because who "exorcises" the channelers is Red, a kid.
  • Not Herself: They seem to be possessed given the way they talk when defy Red and ask for his soul. Some of them even say to be possessed.
  • Soul Power: They specialize in Ghost-type pokémon, mainly Ghastly and Haunter. Or maybe those Ghastly and Haunter were possessing them.
  1. ↑ "Exorcista" in Spanish and Portuguese, "Exorzistin" in German, and "Exorciste" in French.
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