Paul always checks new captures with his Pokédex to learn what attacks they know. He strongly dislikes weak Pokémon and has a habit of releasing them if they do not meet up to his high expectations.
Paul feels that Ash is a weak trainer and can easily bring on Ash's anger by stating it. He appears to feel indifference to Brock and Dawn, showing that he didn't even know Dawn's name in A Gruff Act to Follow. However, Paul has shown respect for some characters, in particular Professor Rowan.
Chimchar is Paul's Starter Pokémon. In battles against Ash, it lost to Aipom but won against Turtwig. It also played an important role in Paul's first Gym Battle.
It is unknown when Paul obtained Elekid as it was already a part of his team in his first appearance. Elekid has been used in battle against Roark and Ash's Pikachu.
In DP003, Paul caught three Starly and immediately released two, keeping the one that had learned Aerial Ace. Paul's Starly defeated Ash's Starly in the first battle between Ash and Paul yet he still decided to release it after the battle.
While travelling in a forest in Different Strokes for Different Blokes, Paul battled a Stantler with his Chimchar and caught it. However, on checking it with his Pokédex he decided it was too weak for his team so he promptly released it.
Paul caught Azumarill for his battle with Roark in Shapes of Things to Come, attempting to use the type advantage over the Rock Pokémon. However, Roark's Geodude had little trouble in defeating the Water Pokémon. After such a loss, Paul gave Azumarill away to a little boy off-screen during DP016.
His Japanese name, Shinji, can be taken to be 信二, which literally means faithful second (son). He may be named for 宮崎慎二 Shinji Miyazaki, who is the composer of the music of the Pokémon anime. Paul appears to reference Pokémon Pearl as Dawn references Pokémon Diamond. This can also be applied to his Japanese name--the Japanese word for "pearl" is shinju (真珠), though there is no link to Dawn's Japanese name. The name Shinji is a reference to Shinji Miyazaki, while the name Paul is a reference to Paul Baron, a staff member at The Pokémon Company as well as the Pearl version, in contrast to Dawn representing the Diamond Version.
File:SugimoriSilverSketch.jpgSugimori's sketch of SilverSeveral similarities have been noted between Paul and another rival, Silver. Their personalities are especially similar. Another interesting similarity is that the pose used in Paul's stock art is the same as the pose in a picture of Silver drawn by Ken Sugimori, down to the angle and position of the hands and feet.
Paul was first revealed to the fandom through a CoroCoro scan that showed him alongside Ash and Dawn. However, his name and role was not revealed until the following week and so he received the fan name "Nugai", coined by Pie as a play on the phrase "new guy". The first scan showed him commanding a Chimchar.
Paul's hometown is Veilstone City which happens to be the home of the main headquarters of Team Galactic. Whether this is a coincidence or not is unknown.
His hair color is purple, probably so it can represent the Pearl Version.
