Jerkass / Pokémon

Anime & Manga

Anime

• In the first episode, Pikachu was this, treating Ash with contempt and mocking his inexperience and laughing at his failures. This changes with Ash saves his life from a flock of Spearow.
• Gary Oak from the original series, who spent most of his appearances taunting Ash. He becomes less of a jerk as the series goes on, and by the end of the Johto arc, a lot of his Jerkass status is more or less gone.
• While James and Meowth have been played sympathetically many times since their first character development episodes, Jessie has always been the "nasty one" of the trio and doesn't get many episodes to herself. To her credit, she has had Pet the Dog moments, like when she let Dustox go away to mate or her bond with a certain Blissey... but these are somewhat sparse.
• Damian, Charmander's original trainer, was one of the worst trainers Ash and his friends met in the show's run. He was solely motivated by self-gratification, abandoning Charmander on a rock all because he thought he was too weak, not caring at all about his well-being when it started raining. Damian then bragged about the whole incident to his gang, which Ash and co. overhear, to their ire. When Damian comes back for Charmander after watching him defeat Team Rocket, he revealed that he never had intention of training Charmander on his own, further enraging Ash and his friends who explain to Charmander that Damian wasn't worth the trouble; he only wanted to use him just to win matches and show off with no interest in raising him and being his friend. Fortunately, Charmander gives Damian his well-deserved comeuppance.
• Harley, a Pokemon Coordinator from Advanced Generation is a jerkass towards May and her friends. He manipulated a naive Max into telling an embarrassing story about May to air it while May was competing against him in a competition. He also manipulated May with "tips" to help her win a competition, only to be exposed by Drew for his stunt.
• Ash's Sinnoh rival, Paul, is extremely rude and abrasive towards almost everyone he comes across. All he has to do is open his mouth for someone to instantly dislike him. His methods of training make Gary seem tame by comparison, and border on outright abuse (especially towards poor Chimchar). His Freudian Excuse comes nowhere close to cutting it, either. It's not until after Ash defeats him in the Sinnoh League near the very end of the Diamond and Pearl series that Paul starts being slightly more respectful towards him.
• Dawn's rival Ursula is yet another example. She consistently acts rude to Dawn while refusing to acknowledge her skill, even though she's lost every single time they've faced each other in a Contest. No matter what happens, she always finds some petty reason to keep disregarding her.
• The Best Wishes series has a Jerkass rival for all three members of the trio. For Ash, it's Trip, who mocks Ash just for being from Kanto and is generally rude and condescending to everyone, always assuming his opponents are beneath him despite losing most tournaments in the first round. It takes a Curb-Stomp Battle from his idol Alder to finally teach him some respect.
• Best Wishes also gives us Burgundy and Georgia, respectively the rivals to Cilan and Iris. Burgundy is a low-rank Connaisseuse with a one-sided grudge against Cilan, and while she's quite vitriolic to him, she's too much of a screw-up to be taken seriously. Georgia is a self-proclaimed "Dragon Buster" who rudely (but not incorrectly) criticizes Iris's poor training and lack of actual Dragon-types on her team. The two of them experience zig-zagged Character Development starting from the Clubsplosion arc.
• Shamus, an Expy of Damian, is quite possibly the second worst in the series' history. Before Ash took it in, Shamus left Tepig tied to a pole after it lost to a Deerling. When the two meet again, he likewise pretends to act sympathetic towards Tepig and feigns resentment for what he's done... then, during his and Ash's battle, he gleefully admits that, not only did he abandon Tepig to starve to death, but that he's done it to other unwanted Pokemon, too. Not even Paul ever stooped that low.

Manga

• Being the character Paul was based on, Silver is also this in the GSC chapter of the Pokémon Adventures manga. Both go through a bit of character development.
• Blue^note Green in Japan has a few moments in the RBY arc. While he was a bit better than his game self, he still was not the nicest character. Red rescued him in Pokemon Tower and Blue only stated that he had his gratitude for that one day (although he saved Red from Arbok's acid). When he and Red switched Pokémon, Blue complained that Red nearly got his Machoke killed, and Red retorts that Blue had put his Pikachu in danger. He takes away the Ninetales that Red had caught stating that it was his Pokemon (who was under Red's control) who defeated it. He then complained that Red did nothing to increase his Pokemon's strength (aside from Machoke evolving and his Pokemon taking a level in kindness) while he had strengthened Red's Pokemon (and make them temporary agressive). When Pallet Town was attacked, while he did have a point that it sort of Red's fault that their hometown got attacked, he states that he does not care that Team Rocket experiments on Pokemon and tells Red to stay out of it, even though Red's hometown just got attacked and one of his Pokemon was stolen. They are convinced to work together by Green^note Blue in Japan. Blue starts getting considerably nicer after this, as he let's a kid have a Lapras that he wanted in order to get his Haunter back in the Yellow chapter.

Video Games

Main Series

• Your rival, AKA Silver, in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Crystal, and its remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver. He stole his first Pokémon and his Sneasel, abuses his Pokémon, doesn't care about them whatsoever, abuses you mentally and physically, and, in the remakes, infamously rips off your Team Rocket disguise just when you were about to infiltrate the invaded Radio tower, and even sometimes seems to act quite disturbingly like a borderline sociopath. Oh, and despite looks, he's only like 11/12. So bad is his jerkiness that most of the earlier manga felt the need to tone him down, even Pokémon Adventures. He gets a Heel–Face Turn, but still...
  • It's revealed via event in the remakes, however, that he has a Freudian Excuse for this: his father abandoning him after Team Rocket's defeat at the hands of Red, an 11-year-old boy, three years before, when he was only 8/9. Not wanting to be weak like his father, from then on he swore to become stronger at any cost. His Heel–Face Turn feels more genuine this time around thanks to this and his development becoming more visible, and it's very clear that while he still is pretty rough and somewhat abrasive, he's trying his best to become a genuinely nicer person, especially if one takes into consideration the double battle in Kanto with him wanting to be on the same team as the player, and how in both the originals and the remakes his Golbat evolves into a Crobat, something that can only be achieved through high friendship. Oh, and plus, he apparently tried to return the starter he stole, but Professor Elm told him to keep him anyway, because said Pokemon has grown to actually like him. Dawwww...
• Of course, while not as much as Silver, we can't forget the original jerk and his predecessor rival, Blue Oak. He's a snotty, arrogant, immature brat who berates the player at every opportunity, waits to ambush him at every turn, including at the end of really tedious dungeons when you least expect it, has the arrogant-sounding catchphrases of "Bonjour" and "Smell ya later!", talks like the player needs to improve even after he loses, and even speaks in a rapid-fire way that is deliberately written to get on your nerves as much as possible. This is probably best shown in Pokemon Yellow where he shoves away Red (the player) to nab the Eevee that was supposed to be given to his rival, and according to his grandfather Professor Oak he doesn't treat his Pokemon well. Oh, and according to the old manual of the original games, he and Red used to be the best of friends until Blue suddenly became a bully towards him one day. And unlike Silver, there's no discernible reason given why he's like this either. There's a reason why so many people then and now, of all ages, love to name him "Dicks" or "Asshat" from their second playthrough onward, and that he's become practically an icon of video game jerks. While he becomes much nicer eventually, though it takes until Gold and Silver for him to do so, and he always keeps a bit of an arrogant streak as part of his character.
• Clair, the eighth Johto Gym Leader, is quite the arrogant bitch. She refuses to give you the final Badge even after you beat her until you pass the Dragons' Den test... and in Crystal, even after you pass she still refuses to give it up until the shrine elder threatens to report her to her cousin Lance.
• Pokémon Diamond and Pearl gives us Mindy, an NPC in Snowpoint City, who offers to trade the player a Haunter for a Medicham. At first it sounds like a great deal, since Haunter evolves into Gengar through trading... but she laughs after the trade and explains that she made it hold an Everstone, which prevents it from evolving.
• The fossil reviver in Oreburgh City is rude, impatient, demands that the player leaves while he revives their fossil, and berates them for being late to pick up their new Pokémon.
  Fossil Reviver: Time alone is what I now need. NOW!!!
  Fossil Reviver (after reviving the player's fossil): You were gone too long! You kept us waiting! Unacceptable! This is your [Pokémon]! You be good to it, OK!
• Unova's Ghetsis Harmonia, though it's arguable he's less of this trope and more pure evil. He is one of the few villains who gives off very heavy implications he not only abuses his mons but considers the possibility of killing his stepson once he outlived his usefulness, whom, mind you, he specifically groomed to be innocent and to further his own ends, earning his trust and essentially brainwashing him since early childhood, so that by the time he's 20 in Black and White he still has the emotional maturity and morality of a child. At the end of Pokemon Black and White, he berates and verbally lashes out at said stepson before outright telling him that he's a freak without a human heart and that he himself never cared about Pokemon, sending the poor man into a state of confusion and spiraling into a Heroic BSoD. In the sequel, he goes as far as to nearly freeze you and an Alternate Self of him even goes as far as to slap a little girl and threaten to murder her with his bare hands unless the player surrender themselves to him.
  • He later appears again in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon during the Team Rainbow Rocket episode, where he outright knocks Lillie to the ground after losing to you in battle. If it wasn't for Colress coming in at the last minute and sending him back to his own universe, Arceus knows what he would have done. Thankfully, this Ghetsis is actually one from an Alternate Universe where he succeeded with his original plans (hence why he looks the same as he did in Black and White and not in the sequels).
• In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the elderly woman in Humilau City with a Mienfoo. If you get anywhere near the door, check her trash can, or try to watch TV, she will angrily berate the player.
• The Big Bad of Pokémon Sun and Moon, Lusamine. At first she appears to be a kindly woman running the Aether Foundation to help Pokémon across the region. But after you visit Aether Paradise the second time, she is revealed to be a selfish, abusive, and mentally unstable woman who even calls her own children ugly and only cares about herself as well as Nihilego and The Ultra Beasts.
• Bede, the Psychic-type trainer from Pokémon Sword and Shield. Not since Silver has a rival character been so arrogant, unpleasant, and utterly skin-invading as him. He's calls you pathetic every chance he gets, acts like an unreasonable Sore Loser whenever you beat him, and tends to gloat over and rub his victories into the faces of the opponents he did win against, as well as their friends, like with Hop. In Stow-On-Side, he goes beyond the pale by demolishing an ancient, sacred landmark in search of Wishing Stars that may not even be hidden there. Even Chairman Rose, the secretly evil Big Bad, thought Bede had crossed a line by doing that and promptly revoked his Gym Challenge sponsorship on the spot.
• In the Indigo Disk DLC of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Kieran becomes this after one too many losses to the player in the Teal Mask DLC, especially since they captured Ogerpon, whose companionship he felt entitled to. He's openly abrasive to the Trainers under him, and is single-mindedly obsessed with strength in battle to the point of ordering them to resign if they don't meet his standards.

Spin-Offs

• Gengar from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team. He's portrayed as an arrogant, self-centered bully who does nothing but cause trouble, and he actually puts the blame on the hero. It isn't until the end that it's he himself who gets everyone into trouble, not the hero, and therefore has to apologize to him and his friends. And yes, like the hero, he too was once a human.