Pokemon-X

Pokémon X is a sprite web comic started in 2003 by Recon A. Dye based on the Pokémon video games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Emerald is also used.
Overview and History

Pokémon-X is the first pokémon sprite comic. It has almost been around for five years, updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since June 2003. As a sprite comic, it uses sprites taken from the video games Pokémon, Ruby/Sapphire and Emerald. The author edits a few of the sprite character that tend to repeat in the game, so that they don't all look exactly the same, like bug catchers and hikers. The author also uses sprites from the game Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team for the Pokémon. Since it's debut, over 2000 other pokémon sprite comics have emerged, lots of them using Pokémon-X's style and jokes. Over the years, Pokémon-X or "P-X" as it is nicknamed has grown in many ways. Not just using sprites and backgrounds, but custom 3D images, and CG special effects in battles. Having over 750 pages, it is one of the longer web comics on the internet, most stopping or ending up at about 400-500 pages, and P-X shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"What gets me, is how I get tons of e-mails from people telling me how
they stopped playing pokémon after the second generation, but after
reading P-X, desired to buy Ruby/Sapphire or Emerald and start playing." - Recon Dye

Since the release of Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire in japan, Pokémon-X has been in production, having to be re-edited after the English releases of the game, to add the official names of items, pokémon and trainers. There has never been any nudity or sex in the comic, which counter attacks that Pokemon X uses extreme crude humor to gain readership. The closest thing that could come to that would the famous first meeting of May and Brendan, when he walks in on her as she's changing, and you see her from the back as she lifts her shirt up a little. Another joke involved Brendan and Wally stumbling across a portable DVD player that May carries with her, which contained a DVD featuring Yaoi, no images of yaoi were shown, only the looks of horror upon Brendan and Wally's faces as they watched a bit of it, thinking it was a DVD featuring the basketball star, Yao Ming. A lot of people also don't like the fact that the main characters occasionally curse, even though children of that age in the real world do, and at more frequency. This comic is not aimed at a young audience, but the audience of original players who have matured over the 10 years of franchise's existence, and who like to nit pick at all of the inaccuracies and things don't make sense within the world of pokémon.

P-X first began in January 2002 as a satire of Pokémon Yellow, following the adventures of Ash and Pikachu, mostly a parody of the animé. Ash was a wigger, who would often forget to talk like one, and Pikachu was an experiment of Team Rocket's that could talk, and was vastly more intelligent than Ash. This comic lasted about 20-30 pages before Recon decided to start the Ruby/Sapphire version in November of that year. After the U.S. release in March 2003, the author spent 3 months changing everything in the R/S comics so that they would match the translation, and uploaded them onto Keenspace in June 2003.

Plot
Pokémon-X Follows the story of four adventurers, Brendan, May, Wally, and Rocky (a golden Mightyena) as they travel through the land of Hoenn on various "missions" and are engulfed in an evil plot by two organizations, Team Aqua and Team Magma, to change the world as they see fit.

Like most comics about video games, the characters are subject to the rules of their programmed universe, where the laws of physics don't apply to general life, ledges can't be climbed, tall grass holds creatures that are invisible until they attack, and buildings are always larger inside than they appear outside. This causes in-joke gags, such as when Brendan complains of the tasks he has to perform, such as "Why do I feel like I'm stuck in some stupid video game?" and "I wonder what makes the shore form perfect angles like that?"

As in the game, the hero Brendan Richards is moving to Hoenn, a large isolated island far removed from his homeland of Johto. After arriving in Littleroot Town, Brendan meets his neighbors, May, who due to fate, have a love/hate relationship because Brendan happened to walk in her as she was changing, and Prof. Birch, who is Hoenn's leading Pokémon Researcher and May's father.

After rescuing Prof. Birch from an angry Poochyena,(which Brendan cannot believe is a serious threat) Brendan is told he may have what it takes to become a Pokémon Master, and his first mission is to bring May back home from her research assignment on Route 103. Upon doing so he helps rescue the Poochyena that he battled previously, he drops it off at the local Pokémon Center and returns with May back home. The next morning he is given his new assignment, after acquiring his trainer's license he proceeds to collect the Poochyena from the Pokémon Center Oldale Town only to find it is now golden, and is able to speak, . This was due to Team Magma and Team Aqua both injecting it with the Pokérus whilst it was sleeping but unable to capture the creature.

Main Characters

These are the four characters that the comic focuses on. Even though they're taken out of the video game, where they have virtually no personality, the author has given them individual quirks and idioms to make them seem more realistic.

Brendan Richards

Age: 14
Birthplace: Ecruteak City, Johto

Brendan is the male protagonist, He appears to be very selfish and dim, but on a few occasions has said some intelligent things that even had May at a loss for words. Brendan moved to Hoenn, from Johto, reluctant to life in his new town, he stumbled into the role of a Pokémon Trainer. Brendan is the son of Joyce and Norman Richards, Norman being the Gym Leader of Petalburg City. When Brendan receives an item or pokémon, the item glows as it hovers over his head. A phantom voice tells everyone what item he received and a musical "Do-Da-Do" plays. Everyone around him is able to witness this, but Brendan seems to be totally unaware that it happens. Always at Brendan's side is Rocky, his shiny Mightyena whom he's developed quite a bond with, and respects Rocky's wish to not be crammed into a pokéball. Brendan is often identified with dark red text.

Apparently, there was an incident at one point of his life involving a Pikachu, as mentioned in License to Train and Petelburg City.

Brendan's Pokémon

Brendan has the most pokémon of the group, most likely because early on he began to think it was some sort of contest to see who collect the most.
*Abra (Obtainedin Granite Cave during the Granite Cave storyline.)

This may or may not be the same Abra that Brendan ran into several times through out the storyline. Each time he encountered one it would teleport away. May finally convinced him to just throw a ball as soon as it appeared, which worked.
*Combusken (Obtained, from Prof. Birch, as a Torchic during the To Be a Master storyline. Evolved during the Brawling Brawly storyline.]

Combusken has always been fiercely loyal to Brendan, even as a Torchic, it often calls Brendan master, much to the dismay of Rocky.
*Dustox (Obtained as a Wurmple in Petalburg Woods, later evolved into a Cascoon, then evolved again into it's present form.)

Brendan didn't like Wurmple at first, which may have resulted in it's evolution to Cascoon, but now that it is a Dustox, he's a bit more fond of it.
*Illumise (Obtained on )

Brendan doesn't use Illumise very often, but catching one wanted May to get her own.
*Magikarp (Obtained on Mr. Briney's boat on the way to Slateport.)

Not even the author really knows why, but Magikarp has a British accent.
*Hariyama (Named Makit, Received in a trade from Elyssa, for Slakoth) Evolved into Hariyama when fighting Winstrate Victor
*Mawile (Received in a trade from Wally, for Oddish)
*Mightyena (Named Rocky, battled to save Prof. Birch, later rescued and caught. Appears Shiny, has the power of the )
*Ninjask (Received in a trade from Wally, for Roselia)
*Nosepass (Given to him by Steven in Granite Cave)
*Skitty (Caught on )
*Wingull (Caught on Mr. Briney's boat on the way to Slateport, was attracted to the smell of vomit on Rocky)
*Zubat (Caught in Granite Cave)

Pokémon Previously Owned

These are some of the Pokémon that Brendan has previously caught, and either traded, or released.
*Oddish (Caught on , Traded to Wally for Mawile)
*Roselia (Caught on , Traded to Wally for Ninjask)
*Slakoth (Caught in Petalburg Woods, Traded to Elyssa for Makit the Makuhita)

May Birch

Age: 13

Birthplace: Littleroot Town, Hoenn

May is the female protagonist and the self proclaimed brains of the group. Her parents are Anne and James Birch, the leading Pokémon Researcher in Hoenn. Being the daughter of a pokémon researcher, she has grown up around the scientific approach to pokémon. She attempts to lead her life as such. There is a running gag in the comic about May not knowing about pokémon not native to Hoenn. She has a crush on Brendan for some reason, but is often too frustrated by Brendan's ignorance to do anything about it. She remains to be the only person in the group who hasn't fainted. May is often identified with dark blue text.

May's Party
*Marshtomp (Given to her by her father, Prof. Birch)
*Linoone (Given to her by Nurse Wrath in Oldale Town, later evoled in The Way Home?)
*Beautifly (Caught as a Wurmple in Petalburg Woods, later evolved into silcoon)
*Whismur (Caught on Route 116)
*Aron (Caught in Granite Cave)
*Geodude (Caught in Granite Cave)

Pokemon in Storage
*Sableye (got from Wally)
*Oddish (Caught on Route 110)
*Volbeat (caught on Route 117)
*Skitty (caught on route 116)
*Machop
Traded
*Electrike (Caught on Route 110 Traded to Wally)

Wally Anderson

Wally is a sickly boy, or that's what his psychotic mother thinks. When Wally was younger he had a slight immunity problem which has since healed, but his mother still expect Wally to die at any moment, Wally's doctor suggested Wally leave home for a while to live in a place with fresh air, away from his mother, it just so happens that Wally's Aunt and Uncle live in such a place, Verdanturf Town. He also has a strange obsession with green pokemon. It also appears that he may be connected to a secret organization who is watching the group all the time. One member appears to be Link from Legend of Zelda.
Wally once fell off 's boat where he was rescued by and that might be a link to his obsession with green.

Wally's Party
*Kirlia (Caught on Route 102 and evolved battling Vicky Winstrate from a Ralts)
*Grovyle (Given to him by May in Petalburg City evolved from Treeko)
*Shroomish (Caught in Petalburg Woods)
*Roselia (got from Brendan)
*Oddish (got from Brendan)
*Electrike (got from May)

Pokemon in Storage
*Shedinja (Came into existence in spare slot when Nincada evolved)
*Gulpin (Caught on Route 110)

Traded
*Mawile (Caught in Granite Cave Traded to Brendan)
*Sableye (Caught in Granite Cave Traded to May)
*Ninjask (Caught as a Nincada on Rought 116 later evolved Traded to Brendan)

Rocky

Rocky is not a normal Mightyena, because he was affected when two evil henchmen (both from enemy teams Team Aqua and Team Magma) gave him two different Pokerus'. Now he is golden coloured, can talk and can use a special attack called Random (which is essentially a variation of Metronome, but the chosen attack stays until end of battle or when rocky is called from battle). Rocky used to be a normal Poochyena, but one day a human researcher was bothering him, so he retaliated by chasing him around, then along came a white haired human, who commanded a Torchic which hurt him quite badly, so he fled as a result of the pain. A little time later he was found by a female human who tended his wounds, then a stupid white haired human showed up, and Rocky fainted. He awoke after some strange organism invaded his body, and saw two strange human villains in the darkness, then an angry pink-haired, female human came in and scared them off. Rocky went back to sleep only to be converted into energy and stored inside a Pokéball, while energy from the Pokérus easily transformed his body, later Rocky was summoned out of his Pokéball, with a shiny golden coat and super-Poochyena strength, later that day he found out he was able to communicate in the human tongue, and dubbed himself Rocky, from his favorite movies he watched somehow. After battling many foes, Rocky finally evolved into a Mightyena, a more powerful, evolved form of Poochyena. Rocky also hates to be in Pokéballs.

Reception
The comic is well received. It is always in the top 100 in the Top Webcomics List and has a reputation even outside of the internet. Some may complain that the humor of the comic has gone down due to the large continuity and various battles, but nonetheless, it is still a respected comic.

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See Also

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