EP169
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Beauty and the Breeder
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Beauty and the Breeder (Japanese: さよならロコン！ポケモンビューティーコンテスト！！ Goodbye Rokon! Pokémon Beauty Contest!!) is the 169th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 19, 2000, and in the United States on October 6, 2001.
Blurb
Brock checks his e-mail at a local Pokémon Center and finds Suzy, the Pokémon breeder who gave Brock Vulpix, has contacted him regarding a Pokémon beauty contest. She is looking for a Pokémon to enter the contest with and Brock agrees to return her Vulpix. When they meet in the contest city of Bonitaville, Suzy suggests they enter the contest together. However, before the contest can commence, Team Rocket seize all the Pokémon! Will our heroes be able to track Team Rocket and return the bevy of Pokémon beauties?
Plot
As Ash and his friends rest up at a Pokémon Center, Brock decides to check his email inbox. He finds an email from Suzie who is taking part in the Pokémon Beauty Contest in Bonitaville, but she requires a Pokémon. Brock and his friends rush over to the event, and he begins grooming Vulpix to be entered in the contest. However, Team Rocket is there as well, they don some fashionable Pokémon Stylist outfits and plan to enter the contest to become rich and famous.
As Ash and the group look for Suzie, Vulpix takes off and leads the group directly to her. Vulpix happily licks its Trainer’s face. Brock walks over and nervously gifts Suzie a bouquet of red roses. Brock also announces that he is happy to see that Vulpix is reunited with Suzie. Suzie invites Brock to enter the contest with her as partners, and Brock agrees before collapsing in embarrassment. Ash looks for Misty’s assistance with Brock, but she is too busy talking to a Trainer with a Ninetales. The young male is irritated by Misty’s questions, and Suzie calls for the Trainer by his name, Zane, and tells him to be a little more polite. Zane immediately calms down and apologizes. Later he joins Ash’s group and Suzie for a tea break, where Suzie reveals that she and Zane have known each other since nursery school and are rivals in the stylist world. Zane has differing opinions on what makes a Pokémon beautiful and considers their outside appearance to be more important. Though Suzie believes that a Pokémon's beauty comes from the inside. Zane soon leaves to continue preparing for the upcoming contest. Brock tells Suzie that they need to focus on their own entry and that Zane is their competition. Suzie nods in agreement.
Jessie and James put the finishing touches on Meowth’s look. Meowth looks into a mirror and begins to tear up at his transformation, but his teammates are quick to cover his mouth to avoid being discovered. Ash and Misty take their seats in the audience, where they read the programme to see that Brock will be entry number 37, and Zane is directly after them. The announcer calls for entry number one to enter the stage. Though Team Rocket kidnap the young man and his Marill to take their place. The trio enters the stage with an extravagant display of groomed and painted Pokémon while reciting a variation of their motto. Victreebel, Weezing, Arbok, Wobbuffet, and Meowth impress the crowd who eats it up until Officer Jenny is brought to the stage by the real first entrant. She throws them out because James runs his mouth. The contest continues as normal until Meowth tries his idea.
Later, Jessie and James appear in the contestant waiting area dressed as doctors and tell everyone that the contest rules have changed and that every Pokémon needs an examination. All the Pokémon are corralled into a room and subsequently into a container being lifted by the Rocket balloon. The contestants get worried and a group led by Zane starts to bang on the door demanding to see their Pokémon. Brock sends out his Geodude and has it break down the door. Everybody rushes out to see Team Rocket trying to escape with their Pokémon. Ash sends out Noctowl to pop Team Rocket's balloon, causing them to hit the ground. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to break the lock off the container and all of the Pokémon inside rush back to their Trainers. Jessie sends out her Arbok and James orders his Victreebel to use Razor Leaf. As Ash tells Pikachu to get ready, Suzie's Vulpix and Zane's Ninetales use Flamethrower on Victreebel, burning the leaves and protecting Pikachu. Then both Vulpix and Ninetales use Fire Spin, sending Team Rocket blasting off again. Misty immediately notices Vulpix and Ninetales teamwork, while Brock realizes that Zane is a better match for Suzie.
The competition continues as normal with our heroes watching backstage. Zane admits it is important for Pokémon to look beautiful on the inside and outside and proposes opening a joint Pokémon beauty salon with Suzie. Everyone supports the idea, including Brock who ends his infatuation with Suzie. Brock and Suzie bring out Vulpix for the contest, but the overall winner is left unknown.
Major events
- Ash and his friends meet up with Suzie again.
- Brock returns Vulpix to Suzie.
- Brock and Suzie enter the Pokémon Beauty Contest, but it is not revealed whether they win or lose.
- For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Quagsire (US and international), Vulpix (Japan)
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Togepi (Misty's)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Noctowl (Ash's; Shiny)
- Geodude (Brock's)
- Vulpix (Brock's; returned to Suzie)
- Arbok (Jessie's)
- Weezing (James's)
- Victreebel (James's)
- Ninetales (Zane's)
- Marill (competitors'; ×2; Entry #1)
- Charizard (competitor's; Entry #36)
- Pidgeot (competitor's)
- Raichu (competitor's)
- Sandshrew (competitor's)
- Clefable (competitor's)
- Wigglytuff (competitor's)
- Oddish (competitors'; ×2)
- Venonat (competitor's)
- Dugtrio (competitor's)
- Persian (competitor's)
- Psyduck (competitor's)
- Primeape (competitor's)
- Growlithe (competitor's)
- Poliwhirl (competitor's)
- Machoke (competitor's)
- Machamp (competitor's)
- Bellsprout (competitor's)
- Weepinbell (competitor's)
- Slowpoke (competitor's)
- Magnemite (competitor's)
- Dodrio (competitor's)
- Gengar (competitor's)
- Onix (competitor's)
- Drowzee (competitor's)
- Hypno (competitor's)
- Krabby (competitor's)
- Electrode (competitor's)
- Exeggutor (competitor's)
- Marowak (competitor's)
- Hitmonlee (competitor's)
- Hitmonchan (competitor's)
- Lickitung (competitor's)
- Chansey (competitor's)
- Tangela (competitor's)
- Goldeen (competitor's)
- Starmie (competitor's)
- Jynx (competitor's, Japanese version only)
- Pinsir (competitor's)
- Tauros (competitor's)
- Hoppip (competitor's)
- Sunflora (competitor's)
- Wooper (competitor's)
- Heracross (competitor's)
- Oddish (Trainer's)
- Nidoran♀ (Trainer's)
- Chansey (Trainer's; flashback)
Trivia
- Brock states that he always knew Vulpix wasn't his and that he would have to return it one day, this episode being the moment.
- This episode features a contest for Pokémon Breeders. It is very different from those for Pokémon Coordinators introduced later on.
- Jessie's Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire Contest costume is reminiscent of the one seen in this episode.
- In this episode, Jessie and James disguise themselves as Pokémon Stylists, an animated series-exclusive Trainer class which had not yet been introduced.
- The Exeggutor's appearance may be a reference to Takeshi's Paradise, where two identical-looking Exeggutor dance with Brock.
- The white tuxedo Brock wears in this episode makes another appearance in The Heartbreak of Brock.
- This episode's English dub title is a reference to the popular French fairy-tale Beauty and the Beast.
- This fairy-tale is also referenced in the Japanese title for Jump for Joy! and the English dub titles for Beauty and The Beach.
- In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
- Jessie and the announcer for the contest break the fourth wall in this episode, with the latter saying that the audience will only find out who wins the contest "if you stay right where you are." Ironically, the TV audience never finds out who the winner is.
- This episode is featured on the Crash of the Dairy volume of the High Voltage Collection series, a series of select Johto League Champions episodes on VHS.
- Brock and Suzie's Vulpix is entry number 37, while Zane and his Ninetales are entry number 38 in the contest just as Vulpix is number 37 and Ninetales is number 38 in the National Pokédex.
- Suzie's original English voice actress, Leah Applebaum, was replaced by Megan Hollingshead for this episode.
- Meowth's make-up looks like a combination of David Bowie's iconic lightning bolt makeup and Paul Stanley's "The Starchild" makeup.
- One of the beauty coordinators bears a striking resemblance to Tracey.
Errors
- The blurb for this episode misspells Suzie's name as Suzy.
- The Pokémon that Team Rocket steal are not dressed up, despite all the Pokémon entered, besides Vulpix and Ninetales, being stylized for the contest.
- Near the end of the episode, one contestant's Charizard has an orange belly.
- When Zane tells Brock he was jealous when he met Suzie, he refers to Suzie as a "he".
- In the Italian dub, Suzie and Zane command their Vulpix and Ninetales to use Fire Blast together instead of Flamethrower against Team Rocket. In the next scene, Ash comments that it was a great Fire Spin.
Dub edits
- A shot of Jynx was cut out in the dub, though her left forearm and a part of her dress can briefly be seen on-screen.
- The original airing of this episode on Hungama TV in India started the episode directly from the title card, skipping the part of the episode that comes before it.
Deleted shot of Jynx
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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 Bulgarian
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Красавицата и възпитателя | |
| Mandarin Chinese | 再見了六尾，神奇寶貝選美比賽 | |
 Czech
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Kráska a chovatel | |
 Dutch
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De Schoonheid en de Fokker | |
 Finnish
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Kauneus vaakakupissa | |
 European French
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Le concours de beauté | |
 German
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Die Schöne und der Züchter | |
 Hebrew
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תחרות יופיtacharut yofi | |
 Hindi
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Suzy - एक पोकेमोन ब्रीडर Suzy - Ek Pokemon Breeder * | |
 Italian
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Il concorso di bellezza | |
 Polish
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Piękna i Brock | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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A Beleza Põe a Mesa * |
 Portugal
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A Bela e o Criador | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡La bella y el criador! |
 Spain
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La bella y el criador | |
 Swedish
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Skönhet kommer inifrån | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |