Pokémon-X

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Pokémon-X is a sprite comic made by Recon A. Dye. It is an PG-13-Rated parody of the Generation III Pokémon games, Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and has been running since June 2003. Judging by how far along the plot of the game it is, it ought to wrap up sometime around 2020.

The cast includes, but is not limited to:

Currently seems on the path to being an Orphaned Series, having suffered extreme Schedule Slip in August 2009, causing the comic to fall several months behind. It's currently updated regularly, but the website posts the date that the comic was originally intended to be added (the October 30th comic was actually added June 25th, and so on). It is now over two years behind.

Not to be confused with the Pokémon Lugia (which has been referred to as "Pokémon X" in some media), the 10th anniversary CD album titled Pokémon X: 10 Years of Pokémon, or Pokémon Crystal, which was once known as Pokémon X.


Tropes used in Pokémon-X include:
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking - Wally doesn't particularly care when May gives him plenty of good reasons why he would want to fight Monty, but he flips out when she says that Monty hates green.
    • Meta-example: on the forums, where one of the users was banned for, according to Recon: "Over spamming, posting pornographic links, constantly posting stupid and mispelled comments, and jaywalking."
  • Art Evolution - The author changes up the use of sprites, borders, etc. on everyone once in a while. Most noticeably, midway through he started using Pokémon Mystery Dungeon sprites for the Pokémon. When Rocky was changed, he became smaller than before and it was Handwaved as Rocky grooming himself.
  • Author Avatar - The author often does various odd jobs (mover, doctor, notary) for which he probably didn't want to bother using another sprite.
  • Author Filibuster - A comment about why a Pokémon egg counts towards your total of six Pokémon turns into a somewhat out-of-character discussion on how the law counting unhatched Pokémon as Pokémon means the world is run by religious fanatics to whom scientific reason does not appeal, which takes up two-thirds of the day's comic.
  • A Wizard Did It - stated twice. (possibly just an homage to the saying)
  • Berserk Button - If you don't like green, Wally will find you. As for Rocky, don't try to put him in his PokéBall.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall - Only in the holiday specials. However, Recon does appear in the main story on multiple occasions.
  • Brick Joke - Many.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer - Professor Birch.
  • Caffeine Bullet Time - CoffeemakesBredanhyperandtalklikethisandnowhe'sfightingaGymLeader.
  • Catholic School Girls Rule - Turns out May was one of these prior to the comic. And still has the uniform.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience - Brendan's text boxes are in red, May's text boxes are in blue, Wally's text boxes are in Green, and Rocky's text boxes are Yellow.
  • Combat Pragmatist: May makes Brendan agree to some conditions before their rematch that completely favor her, and she still manages to lose by grabbing a hold of the Idiot Ball.

1. They must use their starter Pokémon: she has type advantage.
2. No Rocky.
3. Only two Pokémon and one she knows she has type advantage on.

    • Generally speaking, Brendan wins a great many of his fights using sneaky tactics (specially Sand Attack spam to lower his opponent's accuracy. Several opponents have mentioned how much they hate Sand Attack).
  • Comically Missing the Point: Brendan describes May to Professor Birch, saying that she's 5'4", 100 lbs, brown hair, and then mumbles "nice... firm... breasts..." while drooling (it's a long story, okay?). Professor Birch looks shocked. After Brendan leaves, Birch gets excited... because he thinks May is cooking chicken breasts for dinner.
  • Confusion Fu - Though almost all characters use attacks and abilities that effect the chance of something happening, Brendan uses this to a even further effect by having Rocky use his Random attack which can be practically any move. It either won him fights or made him look really stupid, depending on his luck.
  • Curb Stomp Battle - Wally vs Monty.
    • And then Monty waltzed right over the Pokémon Center and challenged May to another Curb Stomp Battle.
    • Also, Brendan's first gym battle with Wattson, wich is currently the first and only time a Gym leader defeated him.
  • Deus Ex Machina - Not only was the Random attack sudden, but it is almost always just what is needed for the battle that is happening.
    • Note the "almost". It did once turn out to be Mud Sport... against a Geodude.
      • Who used the exact same move before with the same result.
    • Also, during the battle with Wattson, he ended up using Water Gun on a Magnemite. Which is still better than a Poison-type move, but Water Gun's low power made it nearly as useless.
    • It also became Spider Web at one point recently.
  • Did Not Do the Research: A few minor cases with moves. An example that springs to mind is Vital Throw, which has been shown missing because of Sand Attack... but Vital Throw can't miss.
    • Emerald lists the accuracy as 100%, not never-missing.
    • A more glaring example occurs when Flannery orders her Numel to use Magnitude (a ground-type move) on Brendan's Golbat (a part-flying type Pokémon), which is completely ineffective against flying types.
    • Really happens with May claiming that Dustox could survive multiple Confusions because it was a Bug type, even though Bugs take neutral damage, and thus its Poison typing would make it weak to the move.
      • Then later Brendan has Machop use Seismic Toss, a move that does numerically fixed damage, on Taillow after Fighting-type moves are ineffective against a flying Pokémon... even though Taillow is a normal type as well. He then says that Machop's Leer helped.
    • Another one in Da Goods III: May's Zigzagoon is shown getting hit with Astonish three times, despite being immune to the attack.
    • ANOTHER one in Volcanic Forces II: Sand-Attack is shown missing against a Zubat despite having 100% accuracy. The author tries to justify this by claiming Zubat is immune by virtue of being a Flying-type, which is incorrect. The author THEN tries to back it up by saying that Zubat has no eyes, which at least makes sense.
  • Double Entendre - Many jokes will be made about balls, and occasionally something else will give rise to such a joke.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him - Monty, in issue 999, ended up getting killed off in a very similar way to Poochie from The Simpsons. And it is hilarious.
  • Dumbass Has a Point - From time to time, Brendan says something intelligent, which even impresses May.
  • Flamboyant Gay - Steven has been rendered as this in this comic, and he speaks with a stereotypical lisp.
  • Flanderization - Wally's obsession with green Pokémon may in part be based on the fact that all of his Pokémon in the Pokémon Special manga are green (Cacturne, Roselia, Flygon, Grovyle, Kirlia, and Kecleon). (Dismissed by Author.)
  • Flat Earth Atheist: May repeatedly refuses to believe in Brendan's stories about Kanto-region pokemon, such as the Onix. She also doesn't believe Team Rocket exists. This despite their world having hundreds of varieties of pokemon, and her having encountered Team Aqua and Team Magma already.
  • Foreshadowing: This seemingly innocuous celebration of Pokémon-X's birthday actually foreshadows the next storyline.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck - Played straight here.
  • Groin Attack: "Brendan received a kick in the nuts!"
  • Hold Your Hippogriffs - May's case of "Numel toe".
  • Improbable Species Compatibility - It had to come up sometime.
  • I Reject Your Reality: Monty, so much. Every time he loses, he instead claims that he has won and crushed his opponent.
  • Imagine Spot - Rocky imagines Brendan commanding him when he is forced to fight Team Magma alone. Later, Brendan creates a plan to rescue Captain Stern, which is rendered in stick figures and is full-on delusional.
  • Interspecies Romance - Brendan's mom likes Machoke. Brendan was only able to convince his mother to let him go off on his journey by promising to catch a Machoke for her. When he finally does...it's a girl.
  • Item Get - Heavily lampshaded in the whole comic. Every time Brendan gets an item, he holds the item up in a Link from Legend Of Zelda fashion, emitting a blinding light. The funny part is that Brendan himself is completely unaware of that. Also, this has been double lampshaded once.
  • Jerkass - Wally, May and Brendan all have their moments. Wally outright insults Brendan, Brendan makes sexist comments and gets angry over Wally and May catching more Pokemon, May set up their Pokenav's so any money the other two got in battle would go to her account
  • Kill It with Fire - Stated by Brendan during the Flannery chapter.
  • Lampshade Hanging - Looooooots of it. One of the Running Gags of the series is lampshading how the Random Encounters happen whenever anyone says how they need to be getting somewhere quickly.
  • Let X Be the Unknown: It has been hinted that the title is a reference to an item or creature.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father - Parodied when Brendan visits the Petalburg Gym for the first time. It is strongly implied Mailman Joe is his real father, due to the obvious resemblance.
  • Mighty Glacier - Brendan's Makit, after it evolves into the giant Hariyama.
  • Mistaken for Pregnant - In another of the guest comics, done by Recon's ex-girlfriend BAM. (Not canon)
  • My Beloved Smother - Wally's mother is an extreme example, to the point of being mildly psychotic.
  • Mythology Gag: Max cameos in a flashback in #994: It's easy to miss, though.
  • Naked First Impression - Partial; May is topless when Brendan first meets her. Leads to an Armor-Piercing Slap.
  • Nice Job Ruining Your Life - May is not pleased to learn that she could have avoided traveling with Brendan and not sent Monty to her father. She still blames it on Brendan
  • Noodle Incident - "And that's why I can never go to another Avril Lavigne concert."
  • Orphaned Punchline - Repeatedly. One was actually completed years later in a flashback.
  • Overused Running Gag - This comic from October 2003.
  • Painting the Fourth Wall: Every time Brendan receives an item, he does a Zelda-style "hold it over head" routine, complete with light flash, sound effect and announcement. Practically everyone finds it weird, disconcerting or annoying, and wants him to stop. Except Brendan, who isn't aware he's doing it.
  • Power Glows - Naturally, the double-dose of the Pokérus that gave Rocky "Random Attack" and the ability to talk also turned him gold and shiny.
  • Punny Name - The Gym Guy, whose name is... Jim Gui. Whenever anyone calls him "Jim Gui", he says, "Please, call me Gym Guy!" This is reminiscent of Xykon.
    • Better, whenever anyone calls him "Gym Guy", he turns right back around and tells them to call him "Jim Gui", thus thoroughly baffling everyone.
  • Running Gag: Brenden tries to compare Pokemon to those in previous adventures, without anyone believing they exist. One example is when he tries to tell May about an Onyx, which she disbelieves.
  • Schedule Slip - The comic's current situation. Recon updates them periodically, though he keeps the same date as when they should have been posted.
    • On August 2, 2011, the most recent comic was dated February 19, 2010. By September 2, 2011, the most recent comic was dated February 22, 2010.
    • He even makes a point of catching up on holiday special comics -- so we had an April Fool's strip in August, for instance, as well as a Valentine's Day strip in June.
      • Though to his credit, he faithfully keeps the schedule slip from affecting the content of said strips. For example, the Valentine's Day 2010 comic is very bitter, reflecting his feelings as of February 2010, even though as he explained in the author's notes, he found a decent girl within a month of then (which would be more than a year before the comic was actually posted).
    • Updated Every: Monday, Wednesday, & Friday!
  • Sealed Evil in a Can - The April 17, 2009 comic shows that Groudon is one. This may also suggest that Kyogre might be one as well. Rayquaza (The one who was supposed to calm them down) and the Regis (Probably just golems doing whatever they are told to do) are still up for debate
    • The next comic suggests that Groudon is like this because Love Makes You Evil. Kyogre could be its lover, but that's nothing but wild speculation at this point.
  • Serious Business: Wally with the color green. Wally and Monty get into a Pokémon battle based on the fact that the latter's favorite shade of green is teal.
  • Self-Serving Memory: Brendan remember the results of his "Bullet Seed" joke differently than May or Wally.
  • Seven Deadly Sins - Replacing most Nurses Joy are "Nurse Wrath", "Nurse Pride", "Nurse Glutton", "Nurse Sloth" and "Nurse Lust".
  • Shout-Out - To Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series.
  • Sorry I Left the BGM On - Comic Number 630.
  • Stalker with a Crush - Monty.
  • Super Serum - Two seperate strains of Pokérus.
  • Surrounded by Idiots - May appears to be the only intelligent person in all of Hoenn.
  • Take That --"This is a crappy reality TV show that's obviously scripted?"
  • Talking Animal - Rocky.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Recon Dye. How do you react when your fans get annoyed about your overuse of ball-related jokes and puns? Get John St. John to put them in their place. Wow.
  • Top Ten List - Memorial Day 2005 saw a list of the top ten moments from the first two years of the comic. Looking at the results, Recon came to the conclusion that his readers enjoy anything that has to do with "naughty parts".
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension - Brendan and May. Rocky even points it out here.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? - Brendan has a crippling fear of tall grass. Less so in later comics.
    • Sort of justified by the games themselves; the very first games would not allow you to step into tall grass without a Pokémon to protect you. Tall grass has wild Pokémon that can hurt or kill you. This is less of a problem if you're a Trainer, and considering that the comic happens over a period of several days, he's getting over it remarkably quickly in "real" time.
  • Webcomic Long Runner
  • Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs? - the Author Avatar
  • Yaoi Fangirl - This early 2006 comic.
  • You Look Familiar - Recon makes numerous appearances as minor characters. Brendan is the only one who seems to notice.
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