EP169

← EP168 : Hook, Line, and Stinker

Original series

EP170 : A Better Pill to Swallow →

Beauty and the Breeder

EP169   さよならロコン！ポケモンビューティーコンテスト！！ Goodbye Rokon! Pokémon Beauty Contest!!

First broadcast Japan October 19, 2000 United States October 6, 2001

English themes Opening Born to Be a Winner Ending

Japanese themes Opening OK! Ending ポケモンはらはらリレー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto Assistant director 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Beauty and the Breeder (Japanese: さよならロコン！ポケモンビューティーコンテスト！！ Goodbye Rokon! Pokémon Beauty Contest!!) is the 169th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 19, 2000 and in the United States on October 6, 2001.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

Brock convinces Ash and Misty to go out of their way to meet Suzy, who is taking part in a Pokémon Contest. There they meet her close friend and rival, Zane, who has differing opinions on what makes a Pokémon beautiful. Suzy believes that a Pokémon's beauty comes from the inside while Zane believes it is their outer appearance that matters. Brock and Suzy enter the Pokémon contest together with Vulpix while Zane enters with his Ninetales.

Team Rocket crashes the Pokémon contest by posing as a pair of cutting edge Pokémon stylists. They kidnap the first entry and take his place in the contest with an extravagant display of groomed and painted Pokémon while reciting a variation of their motto. The crowd eats it up until an Officer Jenny is brought to the stage by the real first entrant. She throws them out because James runs his mouth. The contest continues as normal until Meowth tries his idea.

Jessie and James appear in the contestant waiting area dressed as doctors and tell everybody that the contest rules have changed and every Pokémon needs an examination. All the Pokémon are corralled into a room and subsequently into a container being lifted by the Rocket balloon. The contestants get worried and a group led by Zane starts to bang on the door demanding to see their Pokémon. Brock sends out his Geodude and has it break down the door. Everybody rushes out to see Team Rocket trying to escape with their Pokémon. Ash has his Pikachu thundershock the lock off the container and all of the Pokémon inside rush out. Jessie sends out her Arbok and James, his Victreebel who uses Razor Leaf. As Ash tells Pikachu to get ready, Suzy's Vulpix and Zane's Ninetales use Flamethrower on Victreebel, burning the leaves, protecting Pikachu. Then both Vulpix and Ninetales use Fire Spin sending Team Rocket blasting off again.

After this, the contest continues as normal ending with Brock and Suzy displaying their Vulpix proudly.

Major events

• Brock and Suzy enter the Breeder convention, but it is not revealed whether they win or lose.
• Brock returns Vulpix to Suzy.
• Suzy and Zane agree to open a Pokémon breeding center together.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Brock
• Misty
• Jessie
• James
• Officer Jenny
• Suzy
• Zane
• Contest entrants
• Audience

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Quagsire

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Noctowl (Ash's)
• Geodude (Brock's)
• Vulpix (Brock's, returned to Suzy)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Victreebel (James's)
• Ninetales (Zane's)
• Chansey (flashback)

Pokémon entered in the contest:

• Marill (Entry #1)
• Charizard
• Pidgeot
• Raichu
• Sandshrew
• Nidoran♀
• Clefable
• Wigglytuff
• Oddish
• Venonat
• Dugtrio
• Persian
• Psyduck
• Primeape
• Growlithe
• Arcanine
• Poliwhirl
• Machoke
• Machamp
• Bellsprout
• Weepinbell
• Slowpoke
• Dodrio
• Gengar
• Onix
• Drowzee
• Hypno
• Krabby
• Electrode
• Exeggutor
• Marowak
• Hitmonlee
• Hitmonchan
• Lickitung
• Tangela
• Goldeen
• Starmie
• Pinsir
• Tauros
• Hoppip
• Sunflora
• Wooper
• Heracross

Note: The camera scrolling of the camera shows that more were entered and only parts of the Pokémon are shown in some cases. Multiple members of the same species were also seen to be entered in some cases. (As Team Rocket were entry 259 and there were only 251 known Pokémon at this time, there had to be duplicates.)

Trivia

Tracey look-alike?

• Brock states that he always knew Vulpix wasn't his and that he would have to return it one day, this episode being the moment.
• This episode features a Contest for Pokémon Breeders. It is very different from those for Pokémon Coordinators introduced later on.
  • Jessie's Advanced Generation series contest costume is reminiscent of the one seen in this episode.
• The Exeggutor's appearance may be a reference to Takeshi's Paradise, where two identical-looking Exeggutor dance with Brock.
• The white tuxedo Brock wears in this episode makes another appearance in The Heartbreak of Brock.
• This episode's English title is the second to reference the movie, Beauty and the Beast. The first was Beauty and the Beach.
• In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
• Jessie and the announcer for the contest break the fourth wall in this episode.
• This episode is featured on the Crash of the Dairy volume of the High Voltage Collection series, a series of select Johto League Champions episodes on VHS.
• There sems to be a Tracey look-alike during Team Rocket's second takeover.
• Brock and Suzy's Vulpix is entry number 37 in the contest just as Vulpix is number 37 in the National Pokédex.
• Suzy's original English voice actress, Leah Applebaum, was replaced by Megan Hollingshead for this episode.

Errors

• The Pokémon Team Rocket steal are not dressed up, despite all the Pokémon entered (besides Vulpix and Ninetales) being stylised for the contest.
• Near the end of the episode, one contestant's Charizard has a orange belly.
• When Zane tells Brock he was jealous when he met Suzy, he refers to Suzy as a "he".

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		再見了六尾，神奇寶貝選美比賽
Czech		Kráska a chovatel
Dutch		'De schoonheid en de broeder
Finnish		Kauneus vaakakupssa
European French		Le Concours de Beauté
German		Die Schöne und der Züchter
Hebrew		תחרות יופי tacharut yofi
Italian		Il concorso di bellezza
Portuguese	Brazil	A Beleza Põe a Mesa
	Portugal	A Bela e o Criador
Spanish	Latin America	¡La bella y el criador!
	Spain	La bella y el criador

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← EP168 : Hook, Line and Stinker

Original series

EP170 : A Better Pill to Swallow →

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