History Characters / PokemonPhysicalTypes

%%Known Specialists: Agatha in ''Red and Green/Blue'' and ''Yellow''; Morty in ''Gold and Silver'' and ''Crystal''; Phoebe in ''Ruby and Sapphire'' and ''Emerald''; Fantina in ''Diamond and Pearl'' and ''Platinum''; Shauntal in ''Black and White'' and ''Black 2 and White 2''; Acerola in ''Sun and Moon''; Allister in ''Shield''

** This also applies to their ace trainers, as well. Despite specializing in Ghost-types, none of them are evil, malicious, or even [[PowerStereotypeFlip all that spooky]]. [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Agatha]] is a CoolOldLady, [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Morty]] is a PerkyGoth, [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Phoebe]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Acerola]] are {{Genki Girl}}s, [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Fantina]] is a FunnyForeigner, [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Shauntal]] is CuteBookworm, and [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Allister]] is a ShrinkingViolet.

** Close Combat and Superpower are as powerful as Fire Blast, Blizzard, and Thunder without the accuracy issues, but they lower the user's stats[[note]]Defense and Special Defense for Close Combat, Attack and Defense for Superpower[[/note]] each time they're used. For Superpower, this is averted if used by Malamar with Contrary, in which case it ''raises'' the user's Attack and Defense.

* RatedMForManly: Fighting is definitely the most masculine type. Most Fighting-types look tough, muscular, and quite masculine, and their preferred combat style is certainly manly. In addition, most Fighting-types are either [[OneGenderRace male-only]] or have gender ratios in favor of males. This trope extends to the trainers who frequently use them, who tend to be tough martial artists (even the [[ActionGirl females]]).

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Nearly all human Fighting-type specialists in the series choose to go barefoot; the only exceptions being Brawly and Korrina.

** Hyper Beam and Giga Impact are widespread and powerful attacks, but they have a recharge turn after use that forces the user to stay in battle and be unable to do ''anything''. What makes this AwesomeButImpractical is that the opponent can use this turn to do anything they like — healing, switching, boosting, or just beating the crap out of you. Chances are, your opponent's free turn will ''more'' than offset the damage your attack did. Even worse, you can most likely deal just as much (if not more) damage with any other move with an effective base 75 power or more — just use it twice in a row. [[AwesomeButImpractical In other words]], there is next to ''no'' reason to '''ever''' use Hyper Beam or any other move that requires two turns to execute.

A type made up of Pokémon with mineral bodies, prehistoric Pokémon brought back to life through FossilRevival[[note]]with the exceptions of [[Characters/PokemonGenerationVMinccinoToGenesect Genesect]], who is Bug/Steel, and the [[Characters/PokemonGenerationVIIIImpidimpToCalyrex Galar Region fossils]][[/note]], or those just durable enough to be considered rock-like. Many of them are physically strong in both attack and defense. Rock attacks are particularly effective against a lot of types; hitting Fire, Bug, Ice, and Flying super effectively while being resisted by Ground, Fighting, and Steel (if a hypothetical Pokémon had all 18 types simultaneously, it would still be weak to Rock moves). Defensively, they resist [[PoisonousPerson Poison]], [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[BlowYouAway Flying]], and Normal, but they are weak to ''[[KryptoniteIsEverywhere five]]'' different types: [[MakingaSplash Water]], [[GreenThumb Grass]], [[DishingOutDirt Ground]], Fighting, and [[ExtraOreDinary Steel]]. They tend to reside in caves, arid lands, and mountainous regions.

* PowerfulButInaccurate: In particular the special attacking moves of this type tend to be on the less accurate side. However, at least for Hurricane there's a workaround, as it turns into an AlwaysAccurateAttack during rain.

* UndergroundMonkey: Galarian Farfetch'd and the Combat Breed of Paldean Tauros are pure-Fighting type, while Galarian Zapdos, Hisuian Lilligant, Sneasem and Decidueye as well as the other two breeds of Paldean Tauros have this type, unlike their regular forms.

* UndergroundMonkey: Galarian Farfetch'd is a pure-Fighting type.

* UndergroundMonkey: Alolan Marowak and Galarian Corsola are part Ghost-Type.
* UniquenessDecay: It was once only represented by the Gastly family. Now there's a good selection to choose from (though they're still rare, with 56 Pokémon, making Ghost the rarest type after Ice).

* ConfusionFu: Not just in movesets, but in fighting style, as Ghosts have been legitimately used as {{Mighty Glacier}}s[[note]]Giratina[[note]] , {{Stone Wall}}s[[note]]Eviolite Dusclops[[note]], {{Fragile Speedster}}s[[note]]Dragapult[[note]], and as {{Lightning Bruiser}}s[[note]]Annihilape[[note]].

* ConfusionFu: Not just in movesets, but in fighting style, as Ghosts have been legitimately used as {{Mighty Glacier}}s, {{Stone Wall}}s, {{Fragile Speedster}}s, and as {{Lightning Bruiser}}s.

* ClipItsWings: Flying-types are vulnerable to this from the move Smack Down, which, in addition to causing super-effective damage (it's a Rock-type move), negates the Flying Pokémon's immunity to Ground moves. [[note]It doesn't cause ''extra'' damage beyond being super-effective, though.[[/note]] Zygarde's SecretArt [[ScissorsCutsRock Thousand Arrows]] has the same effect.

* FragileSpeedster: Most of them have Speed as their best stat, especially in Generation VI when a number of Pokémon received slight boosts to one of their stats; many ComMon birds received Speed boosts as part of this. The fastest non-legendary Pokémon, Ninjask, is a Flying-type. Also, many of them can learn Tailwind to double the Speed of party members for a few turns. Like most generalizations, though, there are exceptions.

* LostInTranslation: Despite its name, Aerial Ace can be learned by pretty much anything with claws or some kind of slashing protrusion. This is because the Japanese name is "Swallow Return/Cut", [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasaki_Kojiro#Swallow_Cut which is named after a famous sword technique used in feudal Japan]] that was supposed to look like a swallow's tail and what the move is supposed to be based on (hence the slashing shown in the attack's animations). Note that in its debut generation, Swellow was the only Pokémon that learned the move without a TM.

** The move Sky Drop picks up the opponent during the first turn and [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou drops them on the second]], but can fail if used on anything past a specific weight threshold and will not damage anyone immune to Ground-type moves.

* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Just like Grass, Bug is resisted by ''seven'' types. Thankfully, many Bug-types have surprisingly good movepools, allowing them to work around this.

* MagicallyIneptFighter: Rock-types typically lean on the physical side with high Attack and Defense. Their special stats are nowhere near as impressive. To illustrate this further, after eight generations, the grand amount of ''special'' Rock-type moves can be counted on one hand, and only one of them is viable.

* FireIceLightning: Tri Attack is depicted as firing three balls of fire, ice, and electric energy. It has a 20% chances of burning, freezing, or paralyzing the opponent, and each one has an 1/3rd chance of happening.

* JackOfAllStats: As far as matchups go, it's nicely balanced, being weak to [[CloseRangeCombatant one type]] and immune to [[SoulPower another]]. ''Offensively'', Normal-type moves aren't particularly useful except for [[FunWithAcronyms S.T.A.B.]] (Same Type Attack Bonus), which enhances the strength of the moves by 50% as long as the user is the same type.

[[quoteright:350:[[CloseRangeCombatant https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fighting_types.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Main/{{Flight}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flying_types.png]]]]

As of Gen IX, Fighting has been paired with every other type.

These Pokémon soar through the skies with grace. Some of them don't, but they have similar abilities. Flying-type Pokémon are usually based on birds and other avian creatures, but quite a few are based on other fliers: dragons, mammals, insects, and even seedlings, balloons, and rockets. There are a wide variety of Pokémon represented by this type; it is one of the three types that has been paired with every existing type at least once (tied with Water and Psychic). They're diverse and adaptive enough that Flying-types are found in almost every conceivable environment imaginable, save for the ocean floor. The majority of them are dual-type Pokémon (as, prior to Generation V, there was no such thing as a pure-Flying type or a Pokémon with Flying as a primary type), and have Flying as their second type. Generations V, VI, and VIII introduced seven exceptions: [[OlympusMons Tornadus]] (pure Flying), Noibat and Noivern (Flying/Dragon), the Rookidee family (pure Flying in the first two stages, Flying/Steel upon evolving into Corviknight), and Cramorant (Flying/Water). Flying is the third most-common type.

* SecretArt: Rock Wrecker, a Rock-type [[AwesomeButImpractical Giga Impact]] (massive damage, but requires a recharge turn afterwards when it hits).

* HumanoidAliens: In terms of both body shape and fighting style, most Fighting-types are the most similar to humans. There are a few that explicitly aren't, such as the Swords of Justice (who resemble ungulates). Later generations introduced Fighting-types that are less and less humanoid.

* HumanoidAliens: In terms of both body shape and fighting style, most Fighting-types are the most similar to humans. There are a few that explicitly aren't, such as the Swords of Justice (who resemble ungulates).

* ClipItsWings: Flying-types are vulnerable to this from the move Smack Down, which, in addition to causing super-effective damage (it's a Rock-type move), negates the Flying Pokémon's immunity to Ground moves. Zygarde's SecretArt [[ScissorsCutsRock Thousand Arrows]] has the same effect.

* {{Flight}}: It's a given -- virtually all Flying-types can fly in some manner, and though some are too young and small to fly yet, they'll evolve into something that can. The only exceptions are Gyarados, the Doduo line, the Hoppip line, and the Mantine line, but the latter two can still glide on wind currents in lieu of flying themselves. Subverted with Hawlucha and the Gligar line, which can glide in a manner almost identical to flight given the proper wind conditions.

** There are a few moves which can hit a Pokémon that's in the "invulnerable" state of Fly, Bounce, or Sky Drop, like Thunder, Twister, Hurricane, and Sky Uppercut. Nobody will ever tell you this in the games.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Among the few Pokémon based on dragons that lack the actual Dragon type, most of them instead have Flying as their secondary typing. Charizard is based on Western dragons, Aerodactyl[[note]]a pterosaur[[/note]] and Lugia[[note]]a birdlike CartoonCreature[[/note]] resemble wyverns and are made out to be draconic, Thundurus' Therian Forme is more serpentine, and Gyarados is clearly based on an Eastern dragon — though unlike the other four, it isn't capable of free flight, making its Flying typing a bit baffling. Sceptile[[note]]a gecko[[/note]], Ampharos[[note]]a sheep[[/note]] and Tyranitar[[note]]a [[DinosaursAreDragons dinosaur]][[/note]] are notable exceptions, though they're based on real-world animals. There are also many Dragon/Flying dual types, with flight being part of the dragon mythos all over the world.

* RecurringElement: As mentioned in ComMons above, every generation includes a weak Normal/Flying bird Pokémon encountered early on. Gen I actually had both Pidgey and Spearow, Gen II brought Hoothoot, and so on for Taillow, Starly, Pidove, Fletchling, and, Pikipek in further generations. Rookidee in Gen 8 averts this by being a pure Flying-type. Their evolved forms are definitely ''not'' all mediocre, though, especially Staraptor, Talonflame (who is a Fire/Flying-type), and Corviknight (who is a Flying/Steel-type).

* ColorCodedElements: The Bug-type icon is jade/lime green, as are many Bugs themselves. However, Bug types can also be a wide variety of other colors similar to real-life insects.
* CreepyGood: While more 'evil' Bug types do exist, on average the Bug type is usually played more positively with cute or heroic Pokemon making up a lot of their ranks. They are even super effective against the [[CombatPragmatist Dark]] type.

* HornAttack: The mighty Megahorn, the strongest of all Bug-Type attacks, is learned by many Pokémon with impressively strong horns — especially Heracross, since it's based on a beetle.
* {{Irony}}: Out of all of the types, Bug's only second to Normal when it comes to having Flying as a secondary type. There's only a couple of Bug-types capable of learning Fly[[labelnote:*]]Volcarona, Genesect and Vikavolt[[/labelnote]], and none of them are part-Flying.

* WeakButSkilled: On the offensive department, Bug-types seem rather lackluster. However, they have many tricks up their sleeve. [[SwitchOutMove U-turn]] and Sticky Web are great for utility purposes, with Tail Glow and Quiver Dance being among the best StatusBuff moves in the game. Additionally, most Pokémon based on butterflies or moths can learn Stun Spore or Sleep Powder, and a few of those have access to the powerful Quiver Dance.

* AchillesHeel: While the rock type does not have any quadruple weaknesses (no single type does), it is often paired with the Ground Type, and when it is, it has quadruple weaknesses to Water and Grass. Since both of these types are often specially offensive, just one hit from either of them usually means that the Pokémon will faint.

* CastFromHitPoints: Head Smash. Notable for damaging the user for 1/2 of the damage dealt to the target compared to the other Recoil moves' 1/4 or 1/3, thanks to having a Power of ''150''.

* EarlyBirdBoss: Related to CrutchCharacter above. Whenever there is a Rock-Type Gym Leader, they are usually the first gym challenge in the game (Brock, Roxanne, Roark) or second (Grant), where the player has limited resources and their lineup consists of unevolved Pokémon limited to Normal- and Flying-Type moves, which Rock-Types resist. This makes them rather difficult to deal with early on (especially for the Fire-Type starter). Once the player gets further in the game with access to more varied elemental types and stronger Pokémon that can easily prey on their numerous weaknesses, Rock-Types become ''far'' less difficult to handle.

* MagicallyIneptFighter: Rock-Types typically lean on the physical side with high Attack and Defense. Their special stats are nowhere near as impressive. To illustrate this further, after eight generations, the grand amount of ''special'' Rock-Type moves can be counted on one hand, and only one of them is viable.

* PrehistoricMonster: Most of the Fossil Pokémon, known as such because they're generally revived from various fossils, are all at least part Rock type. They range from invertebrates that lived in the sea to ones that are based on actual dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles. It's unclear if they were all Rock types in life or if the Rock type being added may be a side effect of being revived from fossils (it's noted a number of times that the revival process may not revive them in their original form). The only exceptions to being Rock type so far have been Genesect and the Generation 8 fossils, all of whom have rather special conditions regarding their revival.

* SecretArt: Rock Wrecker, a Rock-Type [[AwesomeButImpractical Giga Impact]] (massive damage, but requires a recharge turn afterwards when it hits).

Ghosts are primarily useful due to the fact that they're immune to 2 types, both of which are particularly common. Their resistances, to Bug and Poison, aren't ''quite'' as useful. Combined with other types and abilities, Ghost types usually find a niche in {{No Sell}}ing other attacks. In previous generations, their resistances can overlap with the weaknesses of the Dark type, thus, Pokémon that were both types had no inherent weaknesses (although with the introduction of the Fairy type, this is no longer the case). Ghost types also cannot be trapped and can be freely switched out at any time (they can also run from any wild Pokémon regardless of speed).

** Prior to Gen [=II=], Ghost-types had next to no practicality in battle; there were only three Ghost-types available, all of which were dual Poison-types too, they were only super-effective against ''themselves'', and, contrary to what the anime claimed at the time, were useless against Psychic-Types.

* DifficultButAwesome: Ghosts and ghost moves can force your opponent make some very uncomfortable choices. Perish Song can end them if they have no way to escape, made all the more difficult with the trapping moves they know. And trapping is useless on ghosts since Gen VI. If you fully exploit the strengths of the ghosts you use, The opponent can do nothing but watch helplessly as their wall or support gets dragged off by the reaper.

* ExactTimeToFailure: Forced with Perish Song. Three turns, and both sides are K.O.ed, bypassing Focus Sash and any ability that may have saved them. The number of trapping moves that ghosts learn means that they can switch out before the timer reaches zero, and their opponent cannot.

* FourIsDeath: In a very strange way. As of Generation VII, the Ghost Pokémon Evolutionary Families who don't evolve via level-up are in groups of four. 4[[note]]Gengar, Dusknoir, Trevenant, and Gourgeist[[/note]] need to be traded to reach their final evolution, and 4[[note]]Mismagius, Froslass, Chandelure, and Aegislash[[/note]] need stones to reach their final evolution.

** Accupressure randomly increases one stat by 2 stages.

* StockDinosaurs: Played straight and subverted. Some Fossil Pokémon are based on well-known species (like [[TRexpy Tyrantrum]]), while others are definitely more obscure, such as the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amargasaurus Amargasaurus]]''-inspired Aurorus. A good number of them also aren't dinosaurs at all, being based instead on extinct invertebrates and primitive reptiles.

** When Ghost-type Pokémon have death as part of their origin, they are typically treated not as dead themselves but rather described as becoming Ghost-type in order to be able to live again in a different form or state of being. Examples include ones like Yamask and Phantump which are stated to be human spirits reborn as Pokémon. Less vague cases are Dreepy and Galarian Corsola, both of which were once non-Ghost types but became extinct in those forms and then were reborn as Ghost-types at some point. Becoming Ghost-type for them is treated in lore as a form of adaptation so they could live again in their old habitats, and in Corsola's case allowed for it to even evolve where its original form couldn't. This proved to be the case for the ancient Hisuian population of Zorua and Zoroark as well, which were reborn as Normal/Ghost-types when they proved unable to survive in the region in their original forms (though their spite toward both humans and other Pokémon for contributing to their deaths led to this rebirth as well). An even straighter example of adaptation is Alolan Marowak, who explicitly gained the Ghost/Fire typing in order to protect themselves and the (still Ground type) Cubone from their local enemies, no extinction involved, with the implication that the spirits of their mothers have returned to protect them via the ghostly flames on their bones. Spiritomb is explicitly 108 (human) souls that are forced together inside one SoulJar, and Froslass is repeatedly stated in dex entries to have originated from the soul of a woman who died in a snowstorm, her regrets and grudges causing her to be reborn as this Pokémon (although another dex entry says such a soul merely "inhabits" the body of Froslass, rather than being the Pokémon's own soul). How reliable dex entries are for Ghost types in particular can be debated, with some dex entries stating their origins as undisputed facts, others giving the same or similar info but stating such an origin is a legend or story.

** Ghost-type Pokémon have many traditional characteristics of ghosts but are not, for the most part, actually spirits of the dead. Some aren't even ghostly at all — Oricorio's Sensu Forme, Alolan Marowak, and Decidueye, for example, are all clearly living and tangible creatures. As shown by "Mimikins" in the anime, they can even die and become actual undead ghosts (key differences including that truly "ghost" Pokémon cannot interact with the living world in any physical way, unlike Ghost types).
** When Ghost type Pokémon have death as part of their origin, they are typically treated not as dead themselves but rather described as becoming Ghost type in order to be able to live again in a different form or state of being. Examples include ones like Yamask and Phantump which are (supposedly) human spirits reborn as Pokémon. Less vague cases are Dreepy and Galarian Corsola, both of which were once non-Ghost types but became extinct in those forms and then were reborn as Ghost types at some point. Becoming Ghost type for them is treated in lore as a form of adaptation so they could live again in their old habitats, and in Corsola's case allowed for it to even evolve where its original form couldn't. This proved to be the case for the ancient Hisuian population of Zorua and Zoroark as well, which were reborn as Normal/Ghost types when they proved unable to survive in the region in their original forms (though their spite toward both humans and other Pokémon for contributing to their deaths led to this rebirth as well). An even straighter example of adaptation is Alolan Marowak, who explicitly gained the Ghost/Fire typing in order to protect themselves and the (still Ground type) Cubone from their local enemies, no extinction involved, with the implication that the spirits of their mothers have returned to protect them via the ghostly flames on their bones. Spiritomb is explicitly 108 (human) souls that are forced together inside one SoulJar, and Froslass is repeatedly stated in dex entries to have originated from the soul of a woman who died in a snowstorm, her regrets and grudges causing her to be reborn as this Pokémon (though another dex entry says such a soul merely "inhabits" the body of Froslass, rather than being the Pokémon's own soul). How reliable dex entries are for Ghost types in particular can be debated, with some dex entries stating their origins as undisputed facts, others giving the same or similar info but stating such an origin is a legend or story.