Jessie's Arbok

Jessie's Arbok
ムサシのアーボック Musashi's Arbok
Jessie Arbok.png
Jessie's Arbok
Debuts in Pokémon Emergency!
Caught at Unknown
Evolves in Dig Those Diglett!
Gender Unknown
Ability Unknown
Released in A Poached Ego!
Current location Hoenn
HOME023.png HOME024.png
This Pokémon spent 29 episodes as Ekans.
Voice actor Japanese English
As Ekans Kōichi Sakaguchi Eric Stuart
As Arbok Kōichi Sakaguchi

Jessie's Arbok (Japanese: ムサシのアーボック Musashi's Arbok) was the first Pokémon Jessie appeared with in Kanto; she received it as a birthday gift (a chūgen gift in the original Japanese version).

History

Original series

Kanto

 
As an Ekans

It was mentioned in Island of the Giant Pokémon that Jessie received Ekans as a birthday present (for chūgen in the original Japanese version) before she met Ash. It is unknown who the gift was from.

Arbok first appeared in Pokémon Emergency! as an Ekans. Throwing their Poké Balls down from their Meowth balloon, Jessie and James used both it and James's Koffing to quickly overtake the defenseless Viridian Pokémon Center. Koffing's job was to create a Smokescreen while Ekans destroyed the computers. Chasing Ash, Misty and Nurse Joy, Ekans scared away the Pokémon that were sent out by Ash, which caused Misty to decide to battle Team Rocket. This was a failed effort, however, as both of them managed to catch up to Ash in no time at all. Just then, Nurse Joy's Pikachu come out and healed Ash's Pikachu with a Thunder Shock attack, while at the same time attacking the Team Rocket trio. Giving Ash's Pikachu enough power to stand up, Ash charged up Pikachu using Misty's charred bike, and he let him have his own Thunder Shock. As the group were being electrocuted, Koffing released a stream of Smog from one of the craters on its body, and the electricity climbed up the toxic gas, causing the entire Pokémon Center to explode, and sending Team Rocket blasting off.

 
Arbok and Jessie

It was used constantly by Jessie and eventually evolved into an Arbok in the episode Dig Those Diglett! along with James's Koffing after Jessie and James desperately wanted their Pokémon to evolve.

In Princess vs. Princess, Jessie used Arbok during the Queen of the Princess Festival contest. Arbok helps Jessie make it up to the finals, but ultimately fails against Pikachu's Thunder Shock.

Although Arbok lost nearly every battle, as is traditional for Pokémon owned by Team Rocket, it has occasionally been shown to have extraordinary power and endurance to match its massive size. For example, in The Misty Mermaid, Arbok was able to single handedly battle Horsea, Starmie, Squirtle, and Seaking underwater (where water Pokémon have the advantage) without the help of Weezing, enduring a huge amount of offense and eventually cornering all its opponents for the victory before Seel evolved into Dewgong and defeated it with Ice Beam.

Johto

Jessie used Arbok as her main battling Pokémon in Johto, preferring it over Lickitung and later Wobbuffet.

In The Whistle Stop, when Team Rocket stole a whistle from Arielle, Meowth blew it in the right note to cause Arbok to dance around and cry out in reaction. This gave Meowth a chance to command it to help capture a group of Ledyba from Arielle by having it dig underground and jump out in front of them for Meowth to throw a net on them and tie them in ropes. When they tried to escape, Arbok uses its tail to grab the ropes, but the Ladyba eventually escape and drag Arbok into Jessie's Lickitung and James' Victreebel, who were attacking Ash, Misty, Brock, and Arielle.

In Wobbu-Palooza!, Arbok was used alongside Victreebel to try to stop the Wobbuffet Festival crashers, since everyone else refused to fight due to festival rules. Arbok battled against their Hitmonlee and lost quickly to his kicking attacks. Wobbuffet was sent out afterwards and managed to defeat them with his Counter attack.

Advanced Generation series

 
Arbok fighting alongside Weezing

In A Ruin With A View, Jessie sent out Arbok alongside James's Weezing to battle Team Magma Grunts who approached them. Not long after being sent out, Team Magma's Houndoom used Roar to send Arbok and Weezing back into their Poké Balls.

In A Poached Ego!, Team Rocket found a poacher holding a herd of Ekans and Koffing captive in Hoenn. After freeing them, James and Jessie reluctantly ordered Weezing and Arbok to stay in the wild and guard their fellow Pokémon. Arbok and Weezing had to when the poacher used his Tyranitar to attack Jessie, James, and Meowth, even though it was clear that they wanted to stay and defend them. The two Pokémon have not been seen since then.

Personality and characteristics

Arbok was both very emotional and loyal to its Trainer while it was under Jessie's ownership. This was first shown in Island of the Giant Pokémon, where it became saddened and overwhelmed in tears when separated from Jessie. It was also in this episode that it was explained that Ekans and James's Koffing only acted evilly because their Trainers ordered them so, and instead refused bad orders from Meowth. The only time Arbok and Weezing refused to obey their Trainers was in A Chansey Operation, where they refused to attack a Chansey, because it had cared for their injuries that had been caused from Team Rocket's schemes. In Lights, Camera, Quacktion both Arbok and Weezing began to sulk after being rejected as the main characters in the movie. It was only with Jessie's and James's help that they were able to get over it. On their last appearance, in A Poached Ego!, they were reluctant to leave Jessie and James, crying as their Trainers released them.

Moves used

 
Using Headbutt
 
Using Acid
Move First Used In
Dig Ash Catches a Pokémon
Bite Clefairy and the Moon Stone
Wrap  The Path to the Pokémon League
Acid  Pokémon Shipwreck
Glare The Flame Pokémon-athon!
Poison Sting  The Flame Pokémon-athon!
Toxic Make Room For Gloom
Double-Edge Bad to the Bone
Tackle × A Shipful of Shivers
Headbutt  Trouble's Brewing
Take Down You're a Star, Larvitar!
An × shows that the move cannot be legitimately known by this Pokémon in the games.
A shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

In the games

Pokémon Yellow, Let's Go, Pikachu!, and Let's Go, Eevee!

Arbok appears as part of Jessie and James's team each time they appear, alongside Meowth/Weezing and its pre-evolved form. It is set to appear in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!

Pokémon Yellow
First battle
Mt. Moon
Second battle
Rocket Hideout
Third and fourth battle
Pokémon Tower/Silph Co.
 
Type:
Poison Unknown
Ekans Lv.14
Wrap
Normal
Leer
Normal
Poison Sting
Poison
  --  
   
 
Type:
Poison Unknown
Ekans Lv.25
Bite
Normal
Leer
Normal
Poison Sting
Poison
Glare
Normal
 
Type:
Poison Unknown
Arbok Lv.27/31
Bite
Normal
Leer
Normal
Poison Sting
Poison
Glare
Normal

Pokémon Zany Cards

 
Pokémon Zany Cards box art

Arbok is depicted on a photograph on the box art for Pokémon Zany Cards, along with Wobbuffet and Weezing. However, it does not make an appearance in the game.

In the manga

In the Ash & Pikachu manga

In the manga series Ash & Pikachu, based on the anime, Arbok appears with Jessie in her travels.

Moves used

 
Using Acid
Move First Used In
Acid Hoppip, the Wind Calls!
A shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga

 
Arbok in The Electric Tale of Pikachu
 
As an Ekans

Jessie's Arbok makes an appearance in the manga series The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It first appears as an Ekans in Pikachu's Excellent Adventure. All subsequent appearances, beginning in You Gotta Have Friends, are as an Arbok. Like in the anime, Arbok is Jessie's primary Pokémon used in battle.

Moves used

 
Using Glare
Move First Used In
Poison Sting You Gotta Have Friends
Glare Clefairy in Space
A shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

Trivia

 
Jessilina and her Arbok-shaped flute
  • Arbok's arrow-like pattern on its neck differs in some episodes. Sometimes, the ends of the arrow stretch until the ends of its eye-like patterns on its chest and is only a few inches wide. Similarly, there are two red dots on its arrow in some episodes and in other episodes there are none.
  • In The Misty Mermaid, Jessie's Arbok was shown to be able to swim without the need for air.
  • In Jessie's room in Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!, an Arbok's head can be seen as part of her bed's design. Additionally, in Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!, Jessie uses an Arbok-shaped flute during her performance in the Daybreak Contest. An Ekans Lure was also used by Jessie in The Sun, the Scare, the Secret Lair!. These three are possibly paying homage to her former Pokémon.
  • Its gender was hinted in the Japanese version of Island of the Giant Pokémon. In the subtitles, it refers to itself and Koffing as おれたち ore-tachi, which is a pronoun normally used by males meaning "we", also used by characters such as Ash, Brock and James in the Japanese version.
  • Out of all Pokémon ever owned by Jessie or James, Arbok has used the most moves, with eleven.

Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Ekans and Arbok.


  This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.