Pokémon Special/YMMV
- Americans Hate Tingle: In the English-speaking fandom, the Ruby & Sapphire arc is pretty divisive, particularly due to its Arc Fatigue and rather infamous conclusion, but it's apparently very popular in Japan.
- Base Breaker: Yellow, who's seen as either a perfectly fine character, or a Canon Sue of massive proportions.
- To a lesser extent, Red. Fans either love him for being the original hero, or hate him because he's a bland and uninteresting Kid Hero compared to everyone else.
- Broken Base: Whether Viz's or Chuang Yi's translation is better.
- Another frequent discussion topic is whether this manga or the anime is better.
- Complete Monster: Sird most likely qualifies.
- Archie is another contender. As he said himself, he left many people to die, which includes various loyal henchmen and Maxie. Even Sird admired him for his evil.
- The Masked Man from the G/S/C arc seems to qualify. It's majorly averted in the end, with both the characters and the reader realizing he's just an insane but miserable and lonely old man.
- Similarly to the above, there's Cyrus, who seems so monstrously evil and utterly detached from humanity but only because he's a deeply disturbed man who had rejected the concept of human spirit due to his Freudian Excuse. When seeing emotion, willpower, and intelligence united together to defeat him, he realizes how wrong he's been all along and has a change of heart afterward.
- Here comes Ghetsis! You can be sure he's going to meet all qualifications.
- Crack Pairing: Many, many ships in this fandom.
- Demoted to Extra: To an extent, Cheren and Bianca in the Black and White arc. In a way, the two titular main characters even take on their Character Development arcs from the games.
- Downer Ending: The conclusion of the FRLG arc. The next arc rectifies it, though.
- Easily Forgiven: Team Galactic. Easy to understand with Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter because they were misled all along (by both Cyrus and Charon), but Dia pretty easily forgives Cyrus for trying to kill them once he finds out he's made a Heel Face Turn. Subverted with Charon, though; all his cowardly attempts to weasel forgiveness out of anyone ends with his comeuppance.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Blaine and Mewtwo in the first arc, Norman in Hoenn.
- Wally for awakening a legendary and whom Took a Level In Badass. Also there are fans who wish he took Emerald's spot as the main character in the Battle Frontier.
- Mimi and Zuzu, Ruby's Milotic and Swampert respectively, are also very popular.
- First Installment Wins: An [[http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In the American Pokémon community, this is pretty much THE popular Pokémon manga. In Japan, not quite so much; sure, it's popular enough to have lasted as long as it has, but THE popular Pokémon manga there is the Gag Series Pocket Monsters, of which the American base is not all that fond. Admittedly, it may help that the vast majority of other Pokémon manga end up under No Export for You.
- Growing the Beard: The manga really started to hit its stride in the second volume with the introduction of Blue, the expansion on Team Rockets' plans, and the first glimpse at Mewtwo. Then it really took off in the following volume with the raid on Silph Co.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- The RS arc was chosen via poll to be re-released in wide-ban format. The arc whose legendaries had nature-based abilities and used them to wreak havoc on the region. Cue the horrific earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan right afterward. The aforementioned Tohoku Earthquake caused the publisher to postpone the release of second and third volume of wide-ban format.
- When fans first saw the image of White trapped in the Nimbasa Ferris Wheel with N, there were a lot of rape jokes going around. When the following chapter came out, what N did to White is arguably one of the biggest tear jerkers in the entire series. It was even called a G-rated version of the Netorare Genre.
- Nightmare Fuel:
- The Pokémon Tower sequence, featuring zombie Pokémon and Green's Charmeleon cutting an Arbok in half (though you find out later that it lived...)
- The bit from Arbok's Pokédex description stating that it could survive and regenerate as long as it still had its head was confirmed canon in the Yellow chapter.
- Blaine's Mewtwo cancer. His skin is literally bubbling and melting off, and from the RGB arc to the GSC one, the cancer spreads from his forearm all the way to his chest.
- Red in the Yellow arc getting beaten to a pulp, falling off a large hole and getting frozen alive.
- Blue's hand getting cut off during her battle with Lorelei which later reveals to be her Ditto transforming as a fake hand.
- The infamous conclusion to the FRLG arc.
- The artist said that he was a fan of monster and horror movies, and that he wanted to incorporate as much of it as possible in the final battle of the RS arc; at certain parts, it shows.
- Maxie setting Norman's corpse on fire during the final battle of the RS, right for Ruby to see. Can you imagine how Ruby felt, having already seen his father die in his arms?
- The Pokémon Tower sequence, featuring zombie Pokémon and Green's Charmeleon cutting an Arbok in half (though you find out later that it lived...)
- Hilarious in Hindsight: So much that it's almost more prophetic than hilarious.
- In the Yellow arc, there's a flashback of Oak's Kangaskhan beating one of Agatha's ghosts with a Dizzy Punch, which should be a total cop out seeing how Normal moves don't affect Ghosts. Now about a decade later in the newer games, Kangaskhan is given the ability Scrappy...which allows Normal (and Fighting) attacks to hit Ghost types.
- The new "critical captures" feature in Black and White games sound a lot like capture spots.
- So, you dress up as a Rocket member to infiltrate their base, only to have your cover blown because your disguise was ripped off...Special did it long before the HGSS games were released.
- Zapmolcuno is finished off by a Blastoise, Charizard, and Venusaur simultaneously using their strongest attacks. It's the Triple Finish!
- In the GSC arc, Misty ends up fighting Suicune in a cave behind Tohjo Falls. Turns out there really is a cave there in the game canon...
- Eusine's Electrode can fly around with the power of electric currents. Gen 4 introduces Magnet Rise [1].
- The manga started FatherlyShipping in the GSC arc. Hilariously enough, rather than having Falkner and Janine respect each other over their mutual daddy issues, the HGSS games took it into the other direction.
- In Pokemon Platinum, you get the chance to purchase an insanely expensive villa and furnish it with insanely expensive furniture. Good thing that the lead character of the corresponding arc was conveniently already established to be insanely rich.
- A green jewel meant to control Rayquaza...Emerald had one on his forehead before the HGSS games came up with the concept.
- It took five generations for Game Freak to have the Gym Leaders more involved with the plot, have secondary jobs, and have them directly oppose the evil villainous team. It took only one for Pokespe.
- Black's Munna clearing his head is a reference to the C-Gear. There is now a Munna C-Gear skin available.
- In the GSC arc, some Rocket grunts fill a Spider Web with electricity. Gen 5 introduces the move Electroweb.
- In the Platinum arc, Caitlin's personal Pokemon is a Gallade. As it turns out in the BW games, she is a master of psychic Pokemon.
- The confirmation of the world tournament showcasing the Gym Leaders and Champions in BW 2... yup, Poke Spe already called it in the GSC arc.
- Hype Backlash: It's very rare, but it happens occasionally as a result of its common perception as the "official" manga or the one and only manga, and the fact that is greatly overshadows the other manga in the fandom's eyes. Of course, the reason it overshadows the other manga is that most of them never get released outside of Japan as well as not being long enough to warrant much discussion.
- Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Really a lot. (SpecialShipping, OldRivalShipping, etc.)
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Blue has been shipped with Red, Green, Silver, Sabrina, and even Yellow.
- Despite Yellow's obvious crush on Red, fans have shipped her with many, many other characters, including those who have yet to appear!
- How has Red not been mentioned yet? He's been paired with EVERYONE.
- Despite Yellow's obvious crush on Red, fans have shipped her with many, many other characters, including those who have yet to appear!
- Magnificent Bastard: Giovanni, who manipulated nearly every event in the first arc of the manga and can predict how a battle will turn out, what moves his opponent will make, how to counter-attack, AND the time it will take for it all to happen! (Given he's been a trainer for YEARS, and wrote THE BOOK on Ground types & his Viridian powers, though his have not been explained, it makes sense. It also makes him a poster-boy (man?) for this trope.)
- Cyrus also qualifies; he's ahead of the good guys, even Cynthia, throughout most of the D/P arc.
- Blue also demonstrates aspects of this, despite being a heroine; she manipulates nearly every event in the second arc by setting Yellow on her quest and telling her never to remove her hat-- which she bugs with a GPS beacon and recording device. "I've been... um... using Yellow as my learning aid!" She eventually becomes a Guile Hero by the third arc.
- Memetic Mutation: It's quite popular on pixiv to take a scene from the manga and render it anime-style.
- Medleys are also popular on niconico, usually with fans (as the characters) singing original lyrics.
- Fans have no doubt in their minds that the author, Hidenori Kusaka, can see into the future. That, or he may just have a Celebi.
- Moe: Yellow should definitely count.
- Many a Dia fan has stated that he is the personification of adorableness.
- Real Women Never Wear Dresses/What Measure Is a Non Badass: There are those who bash White for being a Neutral Female and not being an Action Girl like her predecessors. Never mind that:
- 1) There's still plenty of time for her to grow into an Action Girl. After all, Yellow knew even less about Pokemon training when she started out.
- 2) She has a full-time job that doesn't leave her room for Pokemon training, nor does her job require it.
- 3) Said job involves running her own business. When she actually does decide that she needs to learn how to fight, she actually has to suspend her agency.
- The Scrappy: Yellow and Emerald attract the most ire from fans. Especially the latter; the former being more of a Base Breaker.
- On the Pokemon front, White's Tepig, Gigi, seems to be the most reviled Mon in the series. Many fans will probably never forgive her for ditching her trainer and then showing no concern as said trainer falls from the top of a Ferris wheel and slips into a coma.
- Shared Universe: The regions from the Pokémon Ranger series also exist in the PokéSpe-verse, although the manga for it only exists online.
- Pokémon Snap also exists in this canon.
- Shipping: There is a fandom for the shipping aspect. The shipping index applies here.
- Ship Tease: Arguably Wallace and Winona.
- There's also Ruby/Sapphire, Ruby/Courtney, Blue/Silver, Blue/Green, Gold/Crystal, Silver/Crystal, Red/Yellow, Silver/Yellow and Red/Misty.
- The Sinnoh trio gets a lot with each other in their arcs. OT3, anyone?
- As of now, it's probably safe to say that every single member of the 4 Power Trios has had notable moments with each other.
- Don't forget Bill and Daisy, which is quite nearly canon.
- White admits to herself that she finds Black to be pretty cool within two days of meeting him.
- When White goes missing, Black spends the whole night looking for her, and, upon meeting the person who he thinks is responsible for her disappearance, immediately sics his entire team on said person.
- The train scene. Oh boy the train scene.
- Ship to Ship Combat: Despite the shipping fandom being peaceful in general, small breaks happen every now and then. Blue/Green and Blue/Silver shippers in particular are quite bitter enemies. And the less said about the ongoing Dia/Platinum vs. Pearl/Platinum debate, the better.
- Most N/White shippers tend to have quite a bit of flak to launch at Black/White shippers, and vice-versa. A bit ironic, really, since the game-verse ship (FerrisWheelShipping) comes from the ever-famous ferris wheel scene, while in the manga, that scene is probably one of the biggest Tear Jerker moments in the series, with White losing Bubu to N and falling a good dozen feet to the ground, landing on her back/side. Unsurprisingly, said scene hasn't halted the shippers even slightly.
- Toy Ship: The most canon romance with the Dex holders so far is Ruby/Sapphire, through a Slap Slap Kiss relationship. But they're only kids.
- More tellingly, if two kids are willing to change themselves due to a traumatic event from long ago where they blame themselves for hurting the other, all for someone they'd just met, you do have to wonder just what drives them.
- Values Dissonance: Norman and Giovanni are good fathers?
- The latter in particular is Hilarious in Hindsight because HGSS games show that Giovanni was a complete asshole to his kid! He may or may not have loved his son but that doesn't change the fact that he walked out on him.
- Except in this canon, that didn't happen, as Giovanni was only separated from his kid because his son was kidnapped by Pryce. Then he spent ten years trying to track him down. This version of Giovanni may still be a terrible person, but he's a great father.
- The latter in particular is Hilarious in Hindsight because HGSS games show that Giovanni was a complete asshole to his kid! He may or may not have loved his son but that doesn't change the fact that he walked out on him.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: Thanks to his long red hair, there's hardly a reader who hasn't mistaken Silver for a girl upon seeing him for the first time. In-story, Gold mistakes Bugsy, the Azalea Town gym leader, for a girl when meeting him.
- Villain Sue: Arguably Sird, who has had in a hand in pretty much everything evil since she debuted and has never been defeated in battle as of yet. Oh, and she can control peoples' minds somehow, too.
- Woolseyism: Viz switching Green and Blue's names around may be this seeing as Red and Blue were the original games to come out in the US.
- During GSC, Gold faces the Sprout Tower's sages. In the Japanese original, they have punny names; this is kept in Chuang Yi's version, but Viz played it for game accuracy and the pun was lost.
- When the Gym Leaders are introduced during the Pokemon League, Lt. Surge is referred as "The Lightning Soldier" rather than his official game title, "The Lightning American", because we're not sure if America exists in this canon.
- At the end of the GSC arc, rather than editing out the image of Gold patting Blue's butt, Viz made Gold claim it was an accident. Since Gold's face still indicates him doing it on purpose, it works by making him seem like he was making excuses for himself.
- Dia and Pearl's pun-based manzai skits are different in every translation, for obvious reasons.
- The Woobie: All of the kids qualify on at least one point of their stories.
- ↑ Interestingly, no current Dex entries at the time said anything about it being able to fly, but a future one did