Escape item

The subject of this article has no official name. The name currently in use is a fan designator; see below for more information.

An escape item is an item that can be used to distract a wild Pokémon, allowing the player to escape instantly regardless of any factors that would otherwise prevent escape. The items all resemble Pokémon native to the region the items are available in: a Clefairy, a Skitty's tail, and a Minccino's tail.

Poké Doll artwork from Pokémon Red and Green

Escape items

	Name	Debut Gen.
	Poké Doll	I
	Fluffy Tail	III
	Poké Toy	V

In the spin-off games

The Poké Doll in PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond

PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond

The Poké Doll, simply known as "Plush" in-game, makes an appearance in PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond as a gift item found inside crates. It can be given to Pokémon to make them happier, or can be used to distract certain Pokémon from running away. Instead of Clefairy, these Dolls represent Cleffa, but were also translated to English as Poké Doll (Japanese: ピィにんぎょう Py Doll).

Artwork

This is artwork of the items as seen on the Pokémon Global Link.

Poké Doll	Fluffy Tail	Poké Toy

In the anime

A Poké Doll in the anime

A Poké Doll belonging to Lillie first appeared in Lulled to La-La Land! and made brief reappearances in each episode from Now You See Them, Now You Don't! to Family Determination!. Lillie used the Poké Doll in Rescuing the Unwilling! to remind Lusamine's Clefable of the good times they had had together, allowing it to break free of Nihilego's control.

In Legend? Go! Friends? Go!, a Poké Doll was seen in Ash's room, amongst his collection of Badges, trophies, and other awards.

In the manga

A Poké Doll in Pokémon Adventures

A Poké Doll in Pokémon Pocket Monsters

Pokémon Adventures

In A Hollow Victreebel, Red used a Poké Doll to escape from a group of Victreebel that were trying to eat him in the Safari Zone.

Pokémon Pocket Monsters

Clefairy used a Poké Doll as a substitute for himself in Part-Time Job At The Swimming Pool!!. Since then, it became Clefairy's signature item, mostly relying on it to decoy himself or flee from any battle.

In the TCG

Lillie's Poké Doll is an example of how the effect of Poké Doll is interpreted in the TCG. It is a Pokémon which is not a risk to have as one's Active Pokémon, because the opponent cannot get closer to winning the game by knocking it out. It can be used to stall for time to power up other Pokémon, or in a full prize denial deck.

The Poké Doll has had two dedicated cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The first is Clefairy Doll, a Trainer card which gets put into play as a Pokémon card. It only has 10 HP, does not include any attacks, and is unable to retreat. However, it cannot be afflicted with Special Conditions and the opponent does not take any Prize cards for knocking out a Clefairy Doll. The English language release of the card uses the English equivalent of the Japanese name, Clefairy Doll.

The second card featuring Poké Doll is the very imaginatively named Lillie's Poké Doll, which is named after its owner Lillie. It mostly has the same effect with the upside of being shuffled back into the deck instead of being discarded, although any cards that happen to be attached to the doll do get discarded. It has 30 HP instead of 10, but can be affected by Special Conditions unlike the prior card.

As of writing, the Fluffy Tail and Poké Toy do not have dedicated cards. However, the mechanics used by the above cards were also used on Robo Substitute.

The following is a list of cards representing Escape items.

Related cards Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Card	Type	English Expansion	Rarity	#	Japanese Expansion	Rarity	#
Clefairy Doll	T	Base Set		70/102	Expansion Pack
Lillie's Poké Doll	I	Cosmic Eclipse		197/236	Dream League		043/049
		Cosmic Eclipse		267/236	Dream League		074/049

Trivia

• In Generation III, the Poké Doll, which resembles a Clefairy (a Pokémon native to Kanto and Johto), is unavailable in Hoenn, instead being replaced by the Fluffy Tail, which resembles the tail of a Skitty (which is native to Hoenn). In Generation III, the Fluffy Tail is likewise only available in Hoenn. In Generation VI, the Poké Doll is available in Hoenn.
  • In Pokémon Black and White, since neither Clefairy nor Skitty is native in Unova, they are both replaced by the Poké Toy, which resembles the tail of a Minccino (a Pokémon native to Unova). In these games, the Poké Doll and Fluffy Tail can only be obtained in Black City. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, they can be obtained via other means, as Clefairy and Skitty are native to Unova in these games.
• The Poké Toy is the only escape item whose Japanese name does not include a Pokémon's name.
• The Lost Item that must be returned to the Copycat in exchange for the Magnet Train Pass in Generations II and IV is implied to be the same Poké Doll given to her by the player in Generations I and III.
• Due to a glitch in the Generation I games, Poké Dolls can also be used to bypass the ghost Marowak in Pokémon Tower; this glitch was fixed in Generation III.

This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items.