Part 44: Omni's Asides - Yellow
As a forewarning, this update is going to be even more image heavy than Red's.Pokemon Special Differences: Yellow
Yellow is unique to Pokemon Special in a few ways, for one, she was the first wholly original protagonist created for the manga, for another, she was introduced to Pokemon Special in a rather unique way, by debuting during the RGB arc as seemingly another random person for Red to help.
Lost in the Viridian forest, Red saves her from the rampaging pokemon, enables her capture of Rattata, and bestows upon her his philosophy regarding Pokemon and Trainers. After his brutal battle with Giovanni, Yellow finds him once more, nursing him back to health. She ultimately requests that he become the Viridian Gym Leader and sets up his motivation going forward after his league victory.
So the Yellow arc begins of course with Red being called away on his challenge from Bruno, and then Pika returning to Oak FUBAR'd with Red missing in action, this is when Yellow appears riding on a Doduo, she completely ignores Oak, barges into his lab and...
Is completely adorable. Regardless, Oak doesn't really want to trust the only lead to Red to a person who just came out of nowhere, leading him to challenging her to a battle. This is where the difference between Red and Yellow immediately become apparent, Red was very much a fighter who from beginning to end DESIRED getting into a good scrap. But Yellow? Yellows a pacifist by nature, she doesn't want to hurt anyone, even when fighting is the only option.
Still her gentle heart and determination make her likable, adding to the fact that she had genuinely inventive ways to responding to battles. See while Red's story was a progression of a young trainer against ever increasing threats, the threats for Yellow start OUT at Red's level. She's immediately pursued by Lorelei and the Elite 4, she, a trainer with no real combat experience, is thrown into a multi-tiered battle with the only member of her team who CAN fight, Pika, is denied to her, She has to face frigging Lance with only the barest of combat experience.
And yet Yellow finds inventive ways to survive, through using her ability to read the minds of Pokemon to out predict opponents, taking an attack meant for her own Pokemon if it will secure her the win, and turning Pikachu's Substitute into a Surfboard so she can surf. Also it is worth bringing up that for the majority of the arc, Yellow operates under the 'alias' (It's just her name really fancy) Amarillo del Bosque Verde (Yellow of the Viridian Forest) and yes, most of the protagonists and antagonists believe her to be a boy. That's all Blue's idea, she actually instructed her to not use her name at all, but Yellow's honest like that. The "Is actually a girl gag" is mostly there to make things awkward when Red shows up.
The Yellow arc is all about Yellows training from newbie trainer to champion of justice, It was Red who introduced her to Pokemon and gave her the desire to be a trainer in the first place. It was Blue who gave her a quest, and provided her with the tools to protect herself, it was Misty and Brock who gave her Pokemon to defend herself, and Green who taught her to fight when it mattered. It was Blaine with Mewtwo who taught her about the bond of Pokemon and Trainer and how deep it can run, and when it came down to it, there wasn't someone who was going to defeat Lance for Yellow, the other Pokedex holders were fighting the Elite 4, Blaine and Giovanni had fallen in battle, The 'Good' Gym Leaders were locked in a struggle against the Elite 4's armies.
It is a great story and journey, wholly different from Red's but interesting in the new dynamic it spins, one of a trainer who's ultimate desire is not to be the best fighter, who really IS more focused on making friends with Pokemon instead of fighting with them. One who was so frightened by their evolution that she once cried, and forced to fight literally the strongest trainer in Kanto who is so very much like her, someone who wants to protect and care for Pokemon, who wont even keep them in their balls. She is ultimately the only one who can stop him. Especially since he has the same healing powers she has.
The whole battle is Yellow overcoming her fears and not giving up no matter how bad the situation looks for her. The Elite 4 have all been dark mirrors of the Pokedex holders, Bruno was Red's desire of battle taken to a zenith, Lorelei was denied her home and focused on planning and disruption like Blue, Agatha is a dark version of Greens dedication to self improvement, and Lance is ultimately Yellows desire to peace with Pokemon twisted horribly.
I've got a personal dislike for Pacifist characters, mostly due to their poor portrayal in most media, but Yellow is one of my favorite Pokemon Special characters, it is her burning desire to keep going and her willingness to fight when it's important to that makes me really respect her outlook. You never get the idea that Yellow is great at combat, throughout the entire arc she's compared to Red, but the ultimate story is that she ISN'T Red and she's not going to be his carbon copy, she'll become her own woman and fight her way.
When Lance's plan to use Lugia to wipe out humanity comes to ahead, Yellow knows her only options is to finally stop holding back, especially when her own pokemon failed to have the power to defeat Lance when her tactics were sound. Ultimately it wasn't just Yellow and her desires, it was everyone else fueling her passion that allowed her to defeat Lance.
Yellow shows a lot of characteristics of Gohan, the young warrior who seeks to avoid conflict, who in moments of pure desire unleash a power that surpasses anything any of the others can put forward, her ultimate showcase of this, beyond her pokemon all evolving, including her Butterfree twice, was during the FRLG arc, when two of Team Rocket's Admins take the fighting to Viridian Forest, she goes into a very silent calm, and makes it clear that there is to be no more fighting in the forest. Her Pokemon's levels then skyrocket into the high 80's, and the knowledge that had the Admins stayed, they would have been defeated, makes them flee.
In the GSC Arc, Yellow continues being her gentle hearted self, travelling around and doing good, however, it is revealed that her Strawhat has another reason for being constantly worn, it contains the Silver and Rainbow feathers that Blue was hiding from the Mask of Ice. Also her Pikachu (as she's caught her own in the intervening time) has had a child with Red's the resulting Pichu would become Gold's and help give the struggling trainer the answer to the questions that were plaguing him. Speaking of which. Yellows role, very obviously, is that of the Healer not just for her ability to heal pokemon with her powers, but her ability to mend the bonds between Pokemon and People, She was able to heal Lance's heart after all, and hell she managed to restore life to the desolated Kanto and bring to ahead the entire environmental theme that had been underlying the arcs.
In Fire Red and Leaf Green she reads Deoxy's mind, and again acts in her stead as the Healer to mend the relationships between a pokemon that was created solely for battle and humanity, like the rest of the Pokedex holders in the arc, she's turned to stone by Sird's Darkrai, but she's restored during the Emerald arc. She actually hasn't appeared again since then, though there's always a chance. On the whole I've always liked her character and her story. She's her own character, and for an original character created solely for the manga itself, she makes herself endearing, she has plenty of flaws, and weaknesses, but her strengths are great enough to round her as a character. She's certainly no Kira Yamato and she's DEFINITELY no Emerald who shows just how poor an original character can get.
Yellow is interesting if only for how different a protagonist she is, she wouldn't be a good Pokemon game protagonist, but she's got so many amazing moments and enjoyable story beats, her story of Osmosis through other trainers, coming into her own while never forgetting where she came from? Is particularly unique for the manga, other characters would be less fighters than they are focused on other goals, such as White and her focus on acting and production, but Yellow did it first and I think she did it best.
Welp, that should be the last of the character updates, and the last update unless someone wants something specific I haven't covered, before we go, we'll cover her team.
Pikachu: Both Red's Pikachu and her own ChuChu mostly exist as representation for the game she's named after, but she's also done so much, bringing in the Surfing Pikachu in a very interesting manner, and coming up with crazy battle plans involving his electricity. Also, you will remember that Pokemon Yellow let us check on the feelings of our Pikachu, which is tied into the manga as a Pokedex feature, and ties into Yellows whole deal.
Raticate: Ratty is her first pokemon, it's common, which I think really fits for Yellow since so many other protagonists DON'T have Common Pokemon in their lineups, there's something really simple and sweet about her first Pokemon which she has close ties to being Rattata.
Dodrio: Given to her by a Fisherman who we'd meet in GSC, her use of Doddy is really cool, and she has a lot of interesting plans, as well, its ability to basically hoof it and flee from battles fits with her general goal of fighting, to not harm others.
Butterfree: Caterpie of course can only be found in the Viridian forest, so its ties to Yellow in that way are really cool, in another it's one of Ash's Pokemon in the main series, even if he does get rid of it, Her use of string shot tactics and that final evolution sequence are great, and on a personal note makes me smile because of the Butterfree's I've defeated Lance with. Especially in Gold. Also it's name it Kitty and that's adorable.
Golem: Muscle she received from Brock, more of a sign of her growth than a core member of her team, it's a nice showcase that she's grown as a trainer to be able to control traded pokemon, but unfortunately Golem and Omastar don't have that great character in Yellow's team.
Omastar: Muscle she received from Misty, it's pretty much second verse same as a the first, but notably she's carrying a team of the anime protagonists, Ash, Misty and Brock,with Dodrio and Raticate being the only pokemon of her own identity, which is why they receive so much panel time.
I hope you've all enjoyed my little asides into Pokemon Special, and I really hope you check out the manga, it's charming and incredibly fun to read. I hope I didn't overstate anything and turn anyone off. Until the next Pokemon LP or update that I get asked to put out.
