History Woobie / Pokemon

* Chimchar might be the second in-line of Ash's Fire-type starters coming from an abusive former Trainer, after Charmander, but he might as well be the biggest woobie Pokémon of Ash's team. Before joining Ash, Paul adopted the Chimp Pokémon in hopes he could unlock Chimchar's true strength, yet he would be abusive to him, constantly belittling Chimchar for his failures. Even before Paul adopted him into his team and the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series started, the poor Chimp Pokémon had developed a fear of [[CatsAreMean Zangoose]] after a traumatic experience where a pack of them chased him down; as he manages to knock them out in desperation, Paul sees this and [[FreudianExcuse deems it as worthy of adopting him]]. Chimchar's woobie status only grows in the Tag Battle mini-arc, where Paul's training regime for Chimchar is revealed to be his entire team attacking Chimchar in hopes he would reawaken his inner strength, which goes about as well as one would expect[[note]]Chimchar is rushed to the Pokémon Center for medical help[[/note]]. Tired of not being able to unlock his true potential, Paul finally releases Chimchar into the wild, though Ash quickly recruits him into his team. The episode "Tears For Fears" also showcases a very emotional side of Chimchar, crying tears of joy when he's treated with kindness and love by Ash and co. after losing a sparing match, and finally overcoming his fear of Zangoose. Finally, the episode "Chim - Charred!" has him reawaken his true potential by activating Blaze after battling his former Trainer Paul, but [[TheCorruption goes berserk]] and attacks everything around — until Ash finally manages to calm him down despite suffering from several injuries. Since then, Chimchar finally grows stronger, and come his evolution to Infernape, he firmly [[JustForPun evolves]] into an IronWoobie — nevertheless, to say his past was {{dark and troubled|Past}} is an understatement.

* Chimchar might be the second in-line of Ash's Fire-type starters coming from an abusive former Trainer, after Charmander, but he might as well be the biggest woobie Pokémon of Ash's team. Before joining Ash, Paul adopted the Chimp Pokémon in hopes he could unlock Chimchar's true strength, yet he would be abusive to him, constantly belittling Chimchar for his failures. Even before Paul adopted him into his team and the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series started, the poor Chimp Pokémon had developed a fear of [[CatsAreMean Zangoose]] after a traumatic experience where a pack of them chased him down; as he manages to knock them out in desperation, Paul sees this and [[FreudianExcuse deems it as worthy of adopting him]]. Chimchar's woobie status only grows in the Tag Battle mini-arc, where Paul's training regime for Chimchar is revealed to be his entire team attacking Chimchar in hopes he would reawaken his inner strength, which goes about as well as one would expect[[note]]Chimchar is rushed to the Pokémon Center for medical help[[/note]]. Tired of not being able to unlock his true potential, Paul finally releases Chimchar into the wild, though Ash quickly recruits him into his team. The episode "Tears For Fears" also showcases a very emotional side of Chimchar, crying tears of joy when he's treated with kindness and love by Ash and co. after losing a sparing match, and finally overcoming his fear of Zangoose. Finally, the episode "Chim - Charred!" has him reawaken his true potential by activating Blaze after battling his former Trainer Paul, but [[TheCorruption goes berserk]] and attacks everything around — until Ash finally manages to calm him down despite suffering from several injuries. Since then, Chimchar finally grows stronger, and come his evolution to Infernape, he firmly [[JustForPun evolves]] into an IronWoobie — nevertheless, to say his past was {{dark and troubled|Past}} is an {{understatement}}.

* ''Legends Arceus'' has the Hisuian forms of the Zoroark line and Voltorb. The former is driven our of their homeland and gained the Ghost type from dying in the Hisuian cold and the latter is kicked around for their tendency to accidentally discharge their stored up electricity. No wonder modern Voltorb and Hisuian Electrode looks so angry!

** Cubone, as shown in the Video Game Woobies page. When a Cubone is born, the mother dies, and it then takes her skull and wears it (which is also creepy at the same time, but still). Cubone never shows its face to anyone, cries any time there's a moon at night, and the skull is stained with its tears. Depending on the region, it also has to contend with predators like
[[VileVulture Mandibuzz]], who use the moment while it's most emotional to prey on it. Poor little guy.

* ''Legends Arceus'' has the Hisuian forms of the Zoroark line and Voltorb. The former is driven our of their homeland and gained the Ghost type from dying in the Hisuian cold and the latter is kicked around for their tendency to accidentally discharge their stored up electricity. No wonder modern Voltorb and Hisuian Electrode looks so angry!

* Ash himself can be this in early seasons on the show. As a rookie trainer, people would always deride him for mistakes he made. He also had to deal with a {{jerkass}} rival who would always taunt him for how behind he was. Then, he has a disobedient Charizard that cost him a win in the Indigo League. Speaking of League, every time Ash tries to challenge one he'd get stopped in his tracks by another trainer, especially after persevering through his biggest rival throughout the region (the likes of Harrison, Paul, Cameron and Sawyer come to mind), causing fans to both mock and lament Ash's inability to win a League. Thankfully, [[ThrowTheDogABone he wins not just the Alola League]], but in ''Journeys'' he manages to beat three champions and crown himself as the strongest trainer in the Pokémon world, finally fulfilling his dream of [[ToBeAMaster being a master]]. [[EarnYourHappyEnding About time, Ash Ketchum!]]

* Chimchar might be the second in-line of Ash's Fire-type starters coming from an abusive former Trainer, after Charmander, but he might as well be the biggest woobie Pokémon of Ash's team. Before joining Ash, Paul adopted the Chimp Pokémon in hopes he could unlock Chimchar's true strength, yet he would be abusive to him, constantly belittling Chimchar for his failures. Even before Paul adopted him into his team and the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series started, the poor Chimp Pokémon had developed a fear of [[CatsAreMean Zangoose]] after a traumatic experience where a pack of them chased him down; as he manages to knock them out in desperation, Paul sees this and [[FreudianExcuse deems it as worthy of adopting him]]. Chimchar's woobie status only grows in the Tag Battle mini-arc, where Paul's training regime for Chimchar is revealed to be his entire team attacking Chimchar in hopes he would reawaken his inner strength, which goes about as well as one would expect[[note]]Chimchar is rushed to the Pokémon Center for medical help[[/note]]. Tired of not being able to unlock his true potential, Paul finally releases Chimchar into the wild, though Ash quickly recruits him into his team. The episode "Tears For Fears" also showcases a very emotional side of Chimchar, crying tears of joy when he's treated with kindness and love by Ash and co. after losing a sparing match, and finally overcoming his fear of Zangoose. Finally, the episode "Chim - Charred!" has him reawaken his true potential by activating Blaze after battling his former Trainer Paul, but [[TheCorruption goes berserk]] and attacks everything around — until Ash finally manages to calm him down despite suffering from several injuries. Since then, Chimchar finally grows stronger, and come his evolution to Infernape, he firmly [[JustForPun evolves]] into an IronWoobie — nevertheless, to say his past was {{dark and troubled|Past}} is an {understatement}}.

* Cubone, as shown in the Video Game Woobies page. When a Cubone is born, the mother dies, and it then takes her skull and wears it (which is also creepy at the same time, but still). Cubone never shows its face to anyone, cries any time there's a moon at night, and the skull is stained with its tears. Depending on the region, it also has to contend with predators like

* The Porygon family could be considered a meta-example, once you realize that they will never appear in the anime again due to something that wasn't even its fault.
* Some Pokédex entries for Ralts state that it gets scared when it senses hostile emotions.
* Due to the hopelessly ugly appearance of Feebas, not many people want to raise it. [[MagikarpPower Except for those who either]] [[BeautifulAllAlong maximize its Beauty or trade it while it holds a Prism Scale]]...
* Absol, who is known as "The Disaster Pokémon" for the wrong reasons. It can ''predict'' disasters and tries to warn people that they're coming, but instead, the humans take it the wrong way and think that it ''brings'' disasters. Its ''Moon'' and ''Ultra Sun'' entries lampshade its misfortune.
* Yamask is a Pokémon who [[WasOnceAMan used to be human thousands of years ago]]. The mask on its stomach [[NightmareFuel is its human face]] and [[TearJerker it cries whenever it sees it]]. Yamask's plight is exemplified by [[http://pettyartist.deviantart.com/art/Yamask-201182029 this picture]]. It gets even worse in [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Galarian Form]] where the poor thing was [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by a cursed slab while looking for someone that knew its face, losing its mask, the only thing it had left of its humanity, along the way.
* Audino is a cute-looking Normal-type Pokémon that only appears in shaking grass, but provides a metric buttload of Experience Points. This means pretty much every trainer will go Audino-hunting sometime or another just for the Experience Points. To make things worse, a high-level Audino sometimes ''[[SorryIFellOnYourFist heals your Pokémon while you're beating it up]]''.
* Like Yamask, Banette doesn't even start off as a Pokémon. Instead, it starts off as a toy that gets played by a child, eventually abandoned and forgotten like it never existed. Then, instead of being able to rest in peace, a ghost possesses it and turns it into an animated doll filled with vengeance and seeks to get revenge on the kid that threw it away. WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, if ever there was...

* ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' has Mimikyu, a tiny BedsheetGhost who wears the rags of decades-old Pikachu merchandise because it is very lonely--it just [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants to be loved as much as Pikachu]] and [[IJustWantToHaveFriends make friends with everyone]]. Luckily, fans latched on to the little guy right away, and its popularity only increased when it was given an ImageSong in the form of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO_dO3mMboQ an adorably soft and low-key rap]] explaining its behavior and why it dresses up as Pikachu.

** James grew up in a rich family. Sounds great, right? No. Being born in high-class society, he had to partake in activities he had little interest in, and his fiancee ([[IdenticalStranger who looks like Jessie, but acted far worse]]) was incredibly overbearing and tried to teach him to do things properly. The only friend he had in his childhood days was a loyal Growlithe who he left behind when he joined Team Rocket. Sometime during the Battle Frontier arc, his Chimecho became sick and he had to leave it with relatives, something that was clearly heartbreaking for him to do. He does get a Mime Jr. in exchange though.

* [[AntiVillain Mewtwo]]. Specifically, the one from [[Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie the first movie]]. To recap, when it was just a child-like Pokémon, Mewtwo had all of its childhood playmates die (clones of the first stages of the Kanto starters and Dr. Fuji's deceased child, Amber); as soon as it retaliates emotionally towards Dr. Fuji, Mewtwo's memories of them are wiped before it matured. When it awakens, Mewtwo learns (from ''[[EvilInc Team Rocket]]'') it is a clone of Mew created solely for experimental purposes, causing it to blow up the lab because of this (and after Dr Fuji's last words). The Genetic Pokémon then gets taken in by Giovanni, [[HistoryRepeats the leader of]] ''[[HistoryRepeats Team Rocket]]'', who sees Mewtwo as only a tool; upon finding this out, Mewtwo blows up the gym where it was being used in and returns to its island of birth, deciding to (rather understandably) TakeOverTheWorld. It's only after Ash's HeroicSacrifice during Mew and Mewtwo's fight when the latter has a change of heart and decides to seek out and do better. It's a good thing Mewtwo learnt to move on, seeing as it later becomes altruistic and takes on other Pokémon to protect them, but in retrospective, Mewtwo is ''the'' original WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds of the entire series.
* Larvitar, from near the end of the Johto saga. [[WhamEpisode "Address Unown"]] reveals the full story [[spoiler: of how, as an egg, it was stolen by a greedy Pokemon poacher (using, from its perspective, a ''terrifying'' machine to take its egg), and it could only sense its mother being injured trying to save him. Expounded by all this being shown in Larvitar's mind to Ash and co., complete with sounding like a terrified little boy. When it hatches, Larvitar's so terrified of humans, it takes a courageous deed to get Ash to trust him, and a heartwrenching IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight to trust other humans, including Misty and Brock.]] Thank goodness Larvitar gets to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn its happy ending]].

* Ash's Charmander. It was abandoned by its good for nothing jerkass trainer who lied to it about coming back to get it (when he had no intention of doing so). Charmander's loyalty would unfortunately be its own undoing as it waited in the pouring rain for its trainer to return, thus risking its life. Fortunately, Ash takes it under his wing.
* Chimchar might be the second in-line of Ash's Fire-type starters coming from an abusive former Trainer, after Charmander, but he might as well be the biggest woobie Pokémon of Ash's team. Before joining Ash, Paul adopted the Chimp Pokémon in hopes he could unlock Chimchar's true strength, yet he would be abusive to him, constantly belittling Chimchar for his failures. Even before Paul adopted him into his team and the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series started, the poor Chimp Pokémon had developed a fear of [[CatsAreMean Zangoose]] after a traumatic experience where a pack of them chased him down; as he manages to knock them out in desperation, Paul sees this and [[FreudianExcuse deems it as worthy of adopting him]]. Chimchar's woobie status only grows in the Tag Battle mini-arc, where Paul's training regime for Chimchar is revealed to be his entire team attacking Chimchar in hopes he would reawaken his inner strength, which goes about as well as one would expect[[note]]Chimchar is rushed to the Pokémon Center for medical help[[/note]]. Tired of not being able to unlock his true potential, Paul finally releases Chimchar into the wild, though Ash quickly recruits him into his team. The episode "Tears For Fears" also showcases a very emotional side of Chimchar, crying tears of joy when he's treated with kindness and love by Ash and co. after losing a sparing match, and finally overcoming his fear of Zangoose. Finally, the episode "Chim - Charred!" has him reawaken his true potential by activating Blaze after battling his former Trainer Paul, but [[TheCorruption goes berserk]] and attacks everything around - until Ash finally manages to calm him down despite suffering from several injuries. Since then, Chimchar finally grows stronger, and come his evolution to Infernape, he firmly [[JustForPun evolves]] into an IronWoobie - nevertheless, to say his past wasn't {{dark and troubled|Past}} is an {{understatement}}.

* Ash himself can be this in early seasons on the show. As a rookie trainer, people would always give him shit for mistakes he made. He also had to deal with a jerkass rival who would always taunt him for how behind he was. Then, he has a disobedient Charizard that cost him a win in the Indigo leagie.
** Ash also got his time in the woobie spotlight in the S1 episode "Pikachu's Goodbye" where he sees a teeming utopia of Pikachu and figures his Pikachu would be happier with the other Pikachu than with Ash. Turns out, it was quite the opposite. Pikachu was happy, but still missed Ash and when they got captured by Team Rocket. It's hard not to cry when Ash leaves Pikachu and a particularly sad song plays as Ash remembers all the fond memories he had of Pikachu. It's like losing a close pet. [[LateArrivalSpoiler Though]] this isn't for long, if this were the season finale, this would have probably topped the tearjerkers list of the Pokemon anime.
* Latias from Pokemon Heroes is a particularly heartbreaking example. She lost her mother shortly after she was born according to the [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]], and her father died shortly after leaving them with nothing but the Soul Dew, leaving her twin brother to grow up faster and raise his sister himself. Then, in an attempt to save Altomare and his sister, Latios gave his life to stop Oakley and the machine that drove her mad. So basically, Latias lost every single member of her family, and if we go by there being only one of each Legendary Pokemon in existence, lost all her species and relatives too. What's more is she's essentially a more childish human (though in a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon/jet plane]] body) making this even more heartbreaking.

* Cubone, as shown in the Video Game Woobies page. When a Cubone is born, the mother dies, and it then takes her skull and wears it. (Okay that's creepy at the same time, but still.) Cubone never shows its face to anyone, cries any time there's a moon at night, and the skull is stained with its tears. Poor little guy.
* Pichu, because of its inability to handle its electricity like its evolved forms Pikachu and Raichu can.

* Porygon could be considered a meta-example, once you realize that it -- and by extension, its evolved forms [=Porygon2=] and Porygon-Z -- will never appear in the anime again due to something that wasn't even its fault.

* Absol, who is known as "The Disaster Pokémon" for the wrong reasons. It can ''predict'' disasters and tries to warn people that they're coming, but instead, the humans take it the wrong way and think that it ''brings'' disasters.
* Fifth-generation Yamask is a Pokémon who [[WasOnceAMan used to be human thousands of years ago]]. The mask on its stomach [[NightmareFuel is its human face]] and [[TearJerker it cries whenever it sees it]]. Yamask's plight is exemplified by [[http://pettyartist.deviantart.com/art/Yamask-201182029 this picture]]. It gets even worse in [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Galarian Form]] where the poor thing was [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by a cursed slab while looking for someone that knew its face, losing its mask, the only thing it had left of its humanity, along the way.

* Like Yamask, Banette doesn't even start off as a Pokémon. Instead, it starts off as a toy that gets played by a child, eventually abandoned and forgotten like it never existed. Then, instead of being able to rest in peace, a ghost possesses it and turns it into an animated doll filled with vengeance and seeks to get revenge on the kid that threw it away. WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds if ever there was...

** Though not quite on [[spoiler: an N]] level, it's hard not to feel sorry for Bianca at times - heck, the game makes you [[BreakTheCutie break her]] yourself ''multiple'' times. She went on a [[ToBeAMaster Pokemon journey]] despite her father's opposition, but she couldn't become a strong trainer and defeat you or Cheren no matter how hard she tried.

** Special points goes to Dracovish. Dracovish is making the rounds on the competitive circle for its Strong Jaw + Fishious Rend combo. Made worse when you consider that the perpetually-suffocating Dracovish is arguably the one suffering the most of the four with the possible exception of the perpetually-freezing Arctozolt. The one in the most pain is the one being spawned en-masse. Worse, it throws a rather harsh light onto the lengths that competitive players will go to (and the things they'll accept) just to get that extra edge, creating an artificial Pokémon whose only purpose in life is to battle at any cost, not unlike Mewtwo before it. That's right, normal trainers feel uncomfortable using the Fossils, but not competitive players. This basically means they have no hearts.
* Legends Arceus has the Hisuian forms of the Zoroark line and Voltorb. The former is driven our of their homeland and gained the Ghost type from dying in the Hisuian cold and the latter is kicked around for their tendency to accidentally discharge their stored up electricity. No wonder modern Voltorb and Hisuian Electrode looks so angry!

* Audino is a cute-looking Normal-type Pokémon that only appears in shaking grass, but provides a metric buttload of Experience Points. This means pretty much every trainer will go Audino-hunting sometime or another just for the Experience Points. To make things worse, a high-level Audino sometimes ''[[SorryIFellOnYourFist heals your Pokémon while you're beating it up]]''. What doesn't help is that '''it was recently added into Sword and Shield'''! The recruitment office for Team Plasma is that-away.

* Chimchar might be the second in-line of Ash's Fire-type starters coming from an abusive former Trainer, after Charmander, but he might as well be the biggest woobie Pokémon of Ash's team. Before joining Ash, Paul adopted the Chimp Pokémon in hopes he could unlock Chimchar's true strength, yet he would be abusive to him, constantly belittling Chimchar for his failures. Even before Paul adopted him into his team and the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series started, the poor Chimp Pokémon had developed a fear of [[CatsAreMean Zangoose]] after a traumatic experience where a pack of them chased him down; as he manages to knock them out in desperation, Paul sees this and [[FreudianExcuse deems it as worthy of adopting him]]. Chimchar's woobie status only grows in the Tag Battle mini-arc, where Paul's training regime for Chimchar is revealed to be his entire team attacking Chimchar in hopes he would reawaken his inner strength, which goes about as well as one would expect[[note]][[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Chimchar is rushed to the Pokémon Center for medical help]][[/note]]. Tired of not being able to unlock his true potential, Paul finally releases Chimchar into the wild, though Ash quickly recruits him into his team. The episode "Tears For Fears" also showcases a very emotional side of Chimchar, crying tears of joy when he's treated with kindness and love by Ash and co. after losing a sparing match, and finally overcoming his fear of Zangoose. Finally, the episode "Chim - Charred!" has him reawaken his true potential by activating Blaze after battling his former Trainer Paul, but [[TheCorruption goes berserk]] and attacks everything around - until Ash finally manages to calm him down despite suffering from several injuries. Since then, Chimchar finally grows stronger, and come his evolution to Infernape, he firmly [[JustForPun evolves]] into an IronWoobie - nevertheless, to say his past wasn't {{dark and troubled|Past}} is an {{understatement}}.

* Ash's Tepig also follows the footsetps of Charmander and Chimchar. Tepig is usually positive, but episodes showed it becoming depressed whenever it lost. We later learn that its former Trainer abandoned it after losing, causing it to worry that it'll be abandoned again if it loses. Tepig also nearly starved to death, due to the rope its former Trainer used wrapping around its snout and preventing it from being able to eat. The kicker: Tepig is quick to try and befriend its former trainer when they meet again, believing that its Trainer had the best intentions for it. Tepig finally gets over its Trainer when he reveals that he didn't care for Tepig at all, and is still unrepentant over what he did.
* Ash got his time in the woobie spotlight in the S1 episode "Pikachu's Goodbye" where he sees a teeming utopia of Pikachu and figures his Pikachu would be happier with the other Pikachu than with Ash. Turns out, it was quite the opposite. Pikachu was happy, but still missed Ash and when they got captured by Team Rocket. It's hard not to cry when Ash leaves Pikachu and a particularly sad song plays as Ash remembers all the fond memories he had of Pikachu. It's like losing a close pet. [[LateArrivalSpoiler Though]] this isn't for long, if this were the season finale, this would have probably topped the tearjerkers list of the Pokemon anime.

* Legends Arceus has the Hisuian forms of the Zoroark line and Voltorb. The former is driven our of their homeland and gained the Ghost type from dying in the Hisuian cold and the latter is kicked around for their tendency to accidentally discharge their stored up electricity. No wonder modern Voltorb looks so angry!

** Special points goes to Dracovish. Dracovish is making the rounds on the competitive circle for its Strong Jaw + Fishious Rend combo. Made worse when you consider that the perpetually-suffocating Dracovish is arguably the one suffering the most of the four with the possible exception of the perpetually-freezing Arctozolt. The one in the most pain is the one being spawned en-masse. Worse, it throws a rather harsh light onto the lengths that competitive players will go to (and the things they'll accept) just to get that extra edge, creating an artificial Pokémon whose only purpose in life is to battle at any cost, not unlike Mewtwo before it. That's right, normal trainers feel uncomfortable using the Fossils, but not competitive players. This basically means they have no hearts.