Bulbapedia

Roughneck (Trainer class)

A Roughneck (Japanese: スキンヘッズ Skinheads), known as a Cue Ball until Generation IV, is a type of Pokémon Trainer introduced in Generation I. They appear as bald men wearing leather jackets. Roughnecks can be commonly found in the vicinity of Bikers and, in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Punk Guys. In Sinnoh, they have a Gyarados on the back of their vest; in Unova, they have a Krookodile. Cue Ball may be referring to their bald heads, which can resemble white billiards balls.

Roughneck
スキンヘッズ Skinheads

VS model from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Other names Cue Ball (Generations I and III)
Cueball (Stadium)
Introduced in Generation I
Appears in Red, Blue, and Yellow
FireRed and LeafGreen
Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver
Black, White, Black 2, and White 2
Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Stadium
Gender Male
Counterpart {{{counterpart}}}
Notable members Nicky
Animated debut Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1 (Animated series)
TCG debut [[(TCG)|]]
TCG card {{{card}}}
Manga debut Bombastic Bibarel & Heroic Hippopotas (Adventures)

They are sometimes depicted as being affiliated with Team Rocket.

When paired with Bikers in Double Battles, they are called Hooligans.

They specialize in Fighting-type Pokémon in Generations I and III, and in Dark-type in Generation V. In the Battle Subway, they specialize in Pokémon with one-hit knockout moves and, in the early stages, Dark- and Fighting-type Pokémon.

In Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Roughnecks award three Poké Balls along with prize money upon being defeated.

Gallery

Sprites and models

In the core series

This section is missing one or more images.
Please feel free to add any missing images to this section. Needed images can be uploaded to the Bulbagarden Archives.
Reason: Missing overworld models from LGPE; need higher quality images from LGPE
Cue Ball sprite from
Red and Blue 		Cue Ball sprite from
Yellow 		Cue Ball sprite from
FireRed and LeafGreen 		Sprite from
Generation IV 		Sprite from
Black and White 		Sprite from
Black 2 and
White 2 		VS model from
Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! 		VS model from
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Cue Ball overworld sprites from
Generation I 		Cue Ball overworld sprite from
Generation III 		Overworld sprite from
Generation IV 		Overworld sprite from
Generation V 		Overworld sprite playing the drums from
Black 2 and
White 2 		Overworld model from
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

In other games

Cueball portrait from
Stadium

Trainer list

Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl

See more: List of Battle Tower Trainers in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Roughneck

Pokémon Platinum

See more: List of Battle Frontier Trainers in Generation IV/Roughneck

Pokémon Black and White

See more: List of Battle Subway Trainers/Roughneck

Pokémon Black 2 and White 2

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

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Pokémon Stadium

In animation

Roughneck Nicky in Pokémon the Series: Black & White

A Roughneck by the name of Nicky appeared in Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1 and Part 2. He is the drummer in Roxie's rock band "Koffing and the Toxics".

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Two Roughnecks in Pokémon Adventures
Roughneck Nicky in Unova

History

HeartGold & SoulSilver arc

A Roughneck appears seen amongst the people at the Johto Safari Zone in Weavile Wobbles But It Won't Fall Down.

Diamond & Pearl arc

In Bombastic Bibarel & Heroic Hippopotas, a Roughneck appeared at the Seven Stars Restaurant.

In Vexing Vespiquen & Unmanageable Mothim I, Diamond and Riley encountered two Roughnecks hired by Team Galactic to disrupt their progressing. The Roughnecks took Riolu's Egg as a hostage but were eventually outsmarted by Diamond.

Platinum arc

A Roughneck was seen in Deprogramming Porygon-Z, entering the Battle Frontier after Palmer had his assistants open the gates.

Another Roughneck appeared in Clobbering Claydol, wandering around the Battle Frontier.

Black 2 & White 2 arc

Roughneck Nicky appeared briefly at the Virbank Gym in New Sword Player.

Pokémon

Vespiquen ♀
Roughneck's Vespiquen

One of the Roughnecks sent out Vespiquen to blind Riley and his Lucario. She was a formidable foe as she used her grubs as her weapons to attack and defend. Vespiquen was taken out by a single leaf coming from Tru's Razor Leaf.

Vespiquen's known moves are Attack Order, Power Gem, Defend Order, and Heal Order* and her Ability is Pressure.

Mothim ♂
Roughneck's Mothim

The other Roughneck sent out Mothim to block off the aura coming from Riley's Lucario. The out-of-control grubs managed to defeat Mothim.

Mothim's only known move is Air Slash and his Ability is Swarm.

Koffing
Roughneck's Koffing

Koffing was briefly seen with its Trainer at the Battle Frontier.

None of Koffing's moves are known.

Ursaring
Roughneck's Ursaring

Ursaring briefly appeared with its Trainer during the time Looker flew on his jetpack to search for Platinum.

None of Ursaring's moves are known.

Porygon2
Roughneck's Porygon2

Porygon2 was seen entering the Safari Zone with its Trainer.

None of Porygon2's moves are known.

Trivia

  • In Generation I, a Cue Ball can be found swimming in Route 21. He does not appear in future generations other than Generation VII, in which he does not swim.
  • In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Roughneck Kirby in the Lost Tower uses only one Pokémon; a Cleffa. This is highly contradictory to the established archetype for this Trainer class, as well as his name that fans consider to go along with his Pokémon.
    • However, he does mention that he is in the Lost Tower because his Pokémon died at the hands of Team Galactic, and Cleffa is the only one he has left.
    • Also, in Pokémon Platinum, one of the Roughnecks that can be fought in the Battle Frontier expresses a dislike towards having Pokémon fight each other.
  • The Japanese name of this Trainer class refers to the Skinhead subculture, which is now often associated with racist and Neo-Nazi beliefs. This is likely why the name was changed for international releases.
  • The Cue Balls in Generation I and III use the Bikers' overworld sprite, which, contrarily to the name of the Trainer class, depicts them with hair.

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 光頭男 Gwōngtàuh Nàahm
Mandarin 光頭男 / 光头男 Guāngtóu Nán
French Loubard
German Raufbold (IV+)
Glatzkopf (I, III)
Italian Zuccapelata
Korean 빡빡이 Ppakppak-i
Spanish Calvo

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This Trainer Class article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.
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