K-Zone

K-Zone is a children's magazine published by Pacific Magazines in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Malaysia.

2006 anime information

There is allegedly an interview with Eric Stuart in the July 2006 issue, where he revealed that the surname of Brock is Harrison, according to this archive:

K-Zone: Pokémon has been around for 10 years and is as popular as ever. Do you feel honoured to have been a part of it?

Eric Stuart: I do. It's a great show to work on. The cast and production team are really special people. I'm honoured to have voiced some very popular characters in the toon world.

K-Zone: You get to play the good guy (Brock) and the bad guy (James from Team Rocket). Which is more fun?

Eric Stuart: That's a really hard question. I don't like to pick favourites. Brock is funny with his girl-crazy stuff, but James is much funnier overall. I think I actually laugh a lot more when voicing James.

K-Zone: Brock seems to be the wisest member of the gang. Is he a good influence on Ash?

Eric Stuart: I think he acts like a big brother to Ash. Though his girl-chasing is a little over the top, I think he keeps an eye on Ash and tries to help him make good decisions in his life. I think Brock would do anything for Ash.

K-Zone: Apart from Pokémon, what other series have you worked on? And which character has been the most fun?

Eric Stuart: Oh boy! Ok, I'll try to give you a list but don't hold it against me if I leave someone's favourite off! Here are the shows and the main voice I did for each one: Yu-Gi-Oh! (Seto Kaiba), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (Bastion), Ultimate Muscle (Mac Metaphor), Funky Cops, TMNT, GI JOE: Sigma 6 (Hi-Tech), Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (Metaknight), One Piece (VP Schoople). Okay, you get the idea... My favourite role would have to be Seto Kaiba. He's a blast to do.

-Zone:How is voicing Pokémon characters different to doing other shows?

Eric Stuart: Pokémon has a lot of comedy and a good moral to each story. Some of the other shows are either very dramatic or really goofy. Pokémon has a nice balance.

K-Zone: What's something that most Pokémon fans don't know about the series?

Eric Stuart: Brock's last name is Harrison.

K-Zone: And finally, who's your favourite Pokémon?

Eric Stuart: Squirtle. He was the first one I voiced.

2008 anime information

K-Zone is best known in the Pokémon fandom for an article released in April 2008 that listed plots for episodes beyond the point the Japanese airings were currently at. While the article scans have been criticized for their poor spelling and grammar, each point turned out to be true.

The article revealed that:

• Dawn's Piplup would defeat Kyle's Crawdaunt in the Wallace Cup. (DP079)
• Dawn would then go on to win the Wallace Cup. (DP079)
• Pastoria City would feature a Pastoria Croagunk Festival that Brock competed in. (DP082)
• Ash would then win the Badge at the Gym. (DP083)
• Dawn would capture a Swinub at Mr. Backlot's mansion. (DP084)
• The group would meet a Lopunny that is a super model in Hearthome City. (DP086)
• Aaron would appear around Celestic Town. (While the article said it would be before Celestic, the episode actually aired shortly after the events there.) (DP099)

"Lava" Badge

Notably, K-Zone mentioned that Ash would receive the "Lava" Badge as his fourth Badge. Because the fourth Badge in Sinnoh in Diamond and Pearl is the Fen Badge, many discarded all of the assertions made by the magazine. As it began to become apparent that K-Zone was in fact, correct, some fans took a look at the evidence again. The Japanese words "fen" (フェン) and "fuen" (フエン, lava) are very similar, and therefore it is widely believed now that the translators made a small mistake.

A similar issue occurred with assertions that Dawn would compete in the "Mikli Cup" and win against another coordinator, "Kite", improperly romanized from ミクリ (Mikuri) and カイト (Kaito). These errors likely stem from a lack of knowledge on the translators' part of many Pokémon characters and items.

Another unrelated mistake was made, as the article incorrectly sorted some events, such as it stating that Ash and Dawn would not trade their Pokémon until after Ash's battle with Maylene.

External links

• PacificMagazines.Com.Au website (2016 archive)
• K-Zone on Wikipedia
• K-Zone Phillipines

This article is part of Project Mass Media, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on official Pokémon publishing, broadcasting, communications, and other media.