PAUL (POKéMON)

'Paul', known in Japan as is a human character from the multi-billion-dollar^[1] ''Pokémon'' media franchise – a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards and other media, created by Satoshi Tajiri.

Contents

Biography and personality

Pokémon

On hand

Released

Notes and references

Biography and personality

Paul is a roaming Pokémon trainer traveling through the region of Sinnoh, who quickly develops a rivalry with Ash. Unlike most trainers, Paul has an unorthodox manner of handling Pokémon, only capturing them without the intention of properly raising them by solely caring more for their strength just to crush other trainers with them. He occasionally has a habit of releasing Pokémon he considers of less value being utterly useless and weak. His appearance and mindset is similar to that of the character known as Silver from ''Pokémon Gold, Silver'' and ''Crystal'', who is rival to the main protagonist. Like Ash, Paul is quite an experience pokemon trainer, having competed in many pokemon league tournaments. He successfully defeated Roark, the Oreburgh City Gym Leader, before Ash. His battle against Cynthia was his first revealed loss.

Pokémon

On hand

★ 'Chimchar'
::Chimchar first appeared in "When Pokémon Worlds Collide", in which Paul used it against Ash's Aipom but it lost. In a later episode, Chimchar won twice against Ash's Turtwig. Paul stopped it from performing a victory dance for this, commenting that beating a weak Pokémon was nothing to cheer about.

★ 'Elekid'
::Elekid is Paul's powerhouse Pokémon. Often seen traveling with Paul instead of staying in a Poké Ball, it was first seen in the episode "When Pokémon Worlds Collide". Elekid tied with Ash's Pikachu in "When Pokémon Worlds Collide"; Elekid and Pikachu haven't battled since

★ 'Ursaring'
::Paul caught Ursaring with his Chimchar inside the Forest in "Different Strokes for Different Blokes". Due to its strength and power, he decided to keep it on his squad for the time being.

★ 'Murkrow'
::Murkrow was obtained sometime prior to "Champion Shirona Appears!", when it battled against Cynthia's Garchomp, but lost.

★ 'Torterra'
::Torterra was originally Paul's starter as a Turtwig. With it, Paul has travelled to Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn, and competed in each of the championships staged there. It made its first appearance in "Champion Shirona Appears!", where it lost in battle against Cynthia's Garchomp.

★ 'Weavile'
::Weavile was obtained sometime prior to "Champion Shirona Appears!". It battled against Cynthia's Garchomp, but lost. This is probably another parallel to Silver since he used a Sneasel.

Released

★ 'Starly' (3)
::Paul captured three Starly. He quickly released two of them as they did not know Aerial Ace after their capture. The third one however did know the move. Paul used this Starly in his battle with Ash, where it defeated Ash's Starly. Despite this, Paul decided to release this Starly as well, hoping to find a much stronger Starly.

★ 'Stantler'
::Paul caught and then released a Stantler inside the forest in "Different Strokes for Different Blokes" because the only move it knew was the low-powered ''Tackle''.

★ 'Azumarill'
::Paul was seen using this Pokémon against the first Gym Leader of the Sinnoh League, Roark, in the episode "Shapes of Things to Come". Even though it had a powerful ''Hydro Pump'', it lost against Roark's Geodude, so Paul gave it to a passing Trainer in "A Gruff Act to Follow!"

Notes and references

1. “Pokemon Franchise Approaches 150 Million Games Sold" ''PR Newswire''. URL accessed on March 27, 2006.