Ash's Totodile
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 Ash and Totodile | ||||||||||||||||||
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Ash's Totodile (Japanese: サトシのワニノコ Satoshi's Waninoko) was the last of the Johto starter Pokémon to join Ash Ketchum’s party.
History
Johto
Totodile first appeared in The Totodile Duel. Both Ash and Misty wanted to capture him, and although he was stunned briefly by Pikachu, he managed to escape from their Poké Balls and knock them down with a powerful Water Gun. He then came across Team Rocket, devoured their lunch himself, and sent them blasting off. Finally tracked down by Ash and Misty, he jumped into the bushes just as they both threw their Lure Balls at him. They then found out that one of the Lure Balls had captured him. They decided to have a battle to decide who would keep him. Ash's Chikorita and Bulbasaur defeated Misty's Staryu and her newly evolved Poliwhirl, winning the battle and earning Ash the new Totodile.
Totodile was shown to be fairly romantic, as he quickly fell in love with an Azumarill in Love, Totodile Style. His advances were spurned repeatedly by Azumarill, and Brock's decision to teach Totodile to be successful in love was no more successful. But when Azumarill and Pikachu are captured by Team Rocket, Totodile ignored Ash and Brock's orders for it to come back and single-handedly chased Team Rocket down, locating them in a log cabin. He was captured himself, but managed to cheer Azumarill up at least. When Azumarill's Trainer arrived with Ash and his friends, Totodile blasted Team Rocket down to help rescue Azumarill, but discovered that Azumarill was in love with Trixie's Golduck, who had defeated Arbok and Weezing. Brock consoled Totodile that although he can't win every time, love is worth fighting for. Totodile seemed to take this advice in its stride, falling for a female Quagsire before the end of the episode.
In Spell of the Unown, Totodile was featured in a battle with Lisa's Granbull, who it knocked out with a single Water Gun after dancing out of the way. It also helped Ash and his friends break into the palace. However, it was completely outclassed by Entei, and was defeated in one attack.
Totodile was used fairly often during Ash's travels in Johto, but he wasn't used in many Gym battles, only once in A Goldenrod Opportunity against Whitney. However, Whitney's Miltank proved far too powerful, and its Rollout, already powered up in the battle with Cyndaquil, knocked out Totodile in one hit. In the rematch, it performed better, launching itself into the air with Water Gun and landing on top of Miltank, but it was quickly shaken off and knocked out. Pikachu managed to win the battle. In Fight for the Light!, he was initially used against Janina, who he believed to be Jasmine, the Olivine City Gym Leader. Against her Onix, which had been coated in waterproof polish, Totodile was defeated by one Tackle.
As one of Ash's only Water-type Pokémon, he was the first choice for Ash's team in the Whirl Cup, along with Kingler. In the battle with Christopher and his Kingdra, Totodile showed his skill by escaping a Twister and defeating Kingdra by using Bite on its snout while Kingdra uses Hydro Pump, and the result of having too much water in its snout, it was sent off flying, and thus was defeated. In the head-to-head battle with Misty in The Perfect Match!, Totodile put up a good fight against her Poliwhirl by Headbutting it into a pillar, but was knocked out by a high speed dive and DoubleSlap.
In Pokémon Heroes, he was Ash's entry in Tour de Alto Mare, and shot to the lead when assisted by Latias. Latios's intervention caused Totodile to go even faster, but he was also pulled off course and Ash didn't finish the race.
He was used briefly in a battle park in One Trick Phony!, where he defeated a powerful Charizard after learning Scary Face. He also fought in the private Coastline Gym in Just Add Water, where it was revealed that he knew Slash. He put up a very good fight in the underwater arena against Dorian's Lanturn, but Ash's inexperience in such battles and a type disadvantage caused him to lose.
In Pop Goes The Sneasel, Totodile was sent out to battle a wild Sneasel that was preventing the retrieval of the Sacred Fire needed to begin the Silver Conference. However, through a combination of Slash and Shadow Ball, Totodile and Ash were sent flying back. Harrison later defeated and captured Sneasel.
It joined Squirtle and Phanpy in Ash's battle against Macy in Love, Pokémon Style. It squared off against her Slugma, who was quickly swapped with her surprise entrant, Electabuzz. Later in the battle, the two matched up again, and the type disadvantage was evident - Totodile's water was blocked by Light Screen, and an attempt to Headbutt through resulted in a ThunderPunch knockout.
Totodile redeemed itself in a battle against Harrison in Playing with Fire!, settling the score with Sneasel. Totodile bit down on Sneasel's arm to prevent a Metal Claw, and knocked it out with his tail. His victory dance was very popular with the audience. Its Scary Face attack had no effect against Harrison's Hypno and Totodile was taken control of with a Hypnosis attack. A Psychic took it out of the match. Ash left Totodile at Professor Oak's Laboratory, along with his other Johto Pokémon, when he departed for the Hoenn region.
In a special episode, he was seen squirting Cassidy and Butch with a Water Gun attack but was fired back again. He had his revenge later by squirting them with a Water Gun again and it hit. Later, it was seen blasting Cassidy and Butch off and destroying their helicopter. It also appeared in the Christmas special, where it was hanging out with Ash's, Brock's and Misty's Pokémon. It managed to retrieve one present for Delibird. It was also seen creating the Snorlax Snowman.
Sinnoh
Totodile appeared in An Old Family Blend! alongside Ash's other Pokémon. He was found dancing in a water fountain and affectionately nibbled on Ash's head before being recalled to his Lure Ball. Later, he helped to put out the fire caused by Cyndaquil, together with Corphish and Piplup. Totodile was not seen participating in the Lily of the Valley Conference.
Personality and characteristics
Totodile is a highly energetic Pokémon. He is always happy and shows it by dancing, a theme that is focused on when he is released from his Lure Ball, even when being called into a battle. He also unabashedly introduced himself to Larvitar first in Entei at Your Own Risk, energetically swinging Larvitar around in a circle.
He also acts as a comic relief character, as his tendency to dance is shown in many important matches, frustrating Ash, and confusing his opponents. Its most significant battle, defeating Harrison's Sneasel, depicted him biting Sneasel's hand and dancing around whilst thrashing Sneasel into the ground. His Scary Face attack has also been used as a joke a couple of times, one being in a battle with Duplica's Mini-Dit, where Totodile laughed at its imitation of the move before continuing the battle.
Moves used
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- While Totodile did not use Scary Face until One Trick Phony!, it had been used by Duplica's Mini-Dit, which was transformed into Totodile at the time, in Imitation Confrontation, which aired eighteen months prior in Japan. This implies that Totodile knew the move at the time.
- Also, in the same episode, Mini-Dit used Tackle while being in the form of Totodile, implying that Totodile knew the move. However, Totodile has never used Tackle before or after that episode, and, in addition, Totodile cannot legally learn Tackle in the games.
- Ash told Totodile to use Skull Bash in Dueling Heroes, a move which Totodile cannot legally learn. This was a dubbing error. In the original version, it was commanded to use Headbutt.
- Ash told Totodile to use Leer in Playing with Fire!. This was a dubbing error. In the original, it was commanded to use Scary Face.
Trivia
- Totodile is Ash's only Pokémon not to be kept inside a regular Poké Ball but rather inside a special Ball. Although all of Ash's Tauros were captured with Safari Balls, they stay inside regular Poké Balls when with Ash.
- He is the second Pokémon that Ash and Misty battled over. The first was Togepi.
- He is the second one of Ash's Pokémon that Brock has given romantic tips to. The first was Butterfree, although unlike Butterfree, Totodile was not successful.
- Totodile is the only one of Ash's Johto starter Pokémon who has not evolved.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Totodile.
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| For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here | ||||||
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |