Dawn's Piplup
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Dawn's Piplup (Japanese: ヒカリのポッチャマ Hikari's Pochama) is Dawn's first Pokémon. She befriended him after saving him from an Ariados's attack, when Piplup and Chimchar had fled from Professor Rowan's lab.
History
Sinnoh
Despite his prideful and fierce attitude, Piplup was fairly weak at first. Nando's Budew easily defeated the starter Pokémon in his first battle. He has grown in strength since then, helping Dawn catch Buneary in Setting the World on its Buneary!, as well as Dawn's Buizel in Buizel Your Way Out of This!. However, he was easily defeated by Dawn's Piloswine in A Breed Stampede!, among others.
Piplup is Dawn's main battling partner, used more than any of Dawn's other Pokémon and has helped Dawn win her first two Ribbons in Sinnoh. Piplup seems to be very competitive; he will always try to overcome the odds and impress Dawn and get her fullest attention. He often wants to be the first one to start an event for Dawn, and also often tries to peacefully talk to enemies, rather than just attacking them, as seen for example in The Psyduck Stops Here!.
It has been shown that Dawn and Piplup have a close bond with each other. In Staging a Heroes' Welcome!, Piplup helped Dawn recover her confidence by shooting BubbleBeam at her face. Two episodes later in Strategy With a Smile!, Piplup barely edged out May's Glaceon by only a half a point to help Dawn win the Wallace Cup Ribbon.
In Stopped in the Name of Love, Piplup began the evolution process. However, it soon became clear that Piplup was unwilling to undergo the transformation to Prinplup. After an encounter with Team Rocket, Dawn gave Piplup her full support and acquired an Everstone to prevent his evolution for as long as he wants.
In Three Sides to Every Story!, Piplup fell in love with a Marill; however, a wild Elekid is also competing for the Marill's affections. When the three Pokémon get separated from Dawn and the others, Piplup tried to help Marill, but Elekid seemed to gain the upper hand. When Team Rocket appeared and captured Marill, both Piplup and Elekid work together to save Marill. Once Marill was saved, she decided to go with Elekid, and left Piplup brokenhearted.
In Strategy Begins at Home!, he battled Johanna's Glameow and Umbreon together with Pachirisu in a Double Battle. Despite him and Pachirisu trying their best, they just weren't powerful enough to defeat Glameow and Umbreon, which resulted in a loss for Dawn.
Ever since Ash's Gible made his debut in A Meteoric Rise to Excellence!, Piplup has constantly been the target of Gible's Draco Meteor, mostly by accident but considered a running gag. Piplup, Up and Away! expanded on this event in which Piplup ran away from the the group following another accidental attack. However, these events helped Piplup learn Hydro Pump. Comically in Dealing With a Fierce Double Ditto Drama!, it implies that Draco Meteor can be used to differentiate Piplup from other Piplup.
Piplup was used in the appeal rounds of Daybreak Contest, along with Buneary. They managed to get Dawn to the battle round.
In A Grand Fight for Winning! Piplup was used along with Togekiss in the finals of the Sinnoh Grand Festival against Zoey's Gallade and Glameow. Despite coming up with a new combination and trying their best they lost at the last second.
For Ash's battle against Paul in Familiarity Breeds Strategy!, Dawn made Piplup a new costume to wear instead of the usual cheerleader outfit.
In Memories are Made of Bliss!, Piplup threw a tantrum and ran away from the group when he realized Ash, Brock and Pikachu were leaving since he couldn't accept the fact. However Dawn and everyone else consoled him saying that they would always be friends to the end.
In SS024, he was used to battle Johanna's Glameow and Umbreon alongside Cyndaquil. But when Piplup and Cyndaquil unleashed their Whirlpool-Flame Wheel combination; the battle was stopped due to them fighting.
Unova
In BW085, Piplup came to Unova with Dawn; both were able to reunite with Ash and meet Iris and Cilan in the next episode. During this time, Piplup was able to meet his new object of affection, a Meloetta that had been following Ash's group since Virbank City. He also found a rival in Ash's Oshawott who also had feelings for Meloetta. Later on, Piplup battled Cilan's Pansage and his dazzling attacks, including his new moves: Drill Peck and Ice Beam, left Meloetta greatly impressed.
Personality and characteristics
Piplup initially would not accept food from Dawn; as described in the Pokédex, Piplup are very proud and dislike accepting food from people. However, he seems to have a large appetite for Pokémon food and does not like having any taken away from him. He shows signs of having a short temper, frequently getting into disagreements with other Pokémon and his Trainer. One of his distinguishing traits is his tendency to lose it when things go wrong, such as when Dawn said that Ash's Gible did not have ill intent when he was practicing his Draco Meteor in Piplup, Up and Away!, when a Chimchar stole the last of his food in Following a Maiden's Voyage!, or when it repeatedly missed out on eating a berry and starts a fight with a Shinx in The Rise of Darkrai.
In A Breed Stampede!, Piplup was shown to be quite adamant and overconfident. He even tried to stop Piloswine from charging. However, each attempt resulted in being launched into the sky and knocked out. Despite this, he would get straight back up on his feet even when completely knocked out. He tried again when Piloswine had already evolved into Mamoswine, but the result was again the same.
Dawn's Piplup always seems like he wants attention off everyone, this may be due to the fact of all the Contests he performed in.
Moves used
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Moves improvised
- Spin was first used in Wild in the Streets where Piplup, together with Buneary, battled an Aerodactyl. He spun around and used BubbleBeam. In Strategy With a Smile! he spun while using Bide, absorbing a Dark Pulse attack and turning purple. A spinning variation of Peck was used in its Contest appeal in Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!. It was used again in A Grand Fight for Winning! to dodge Zoey's Gallade's Vacuum Wave.
- Sweet Kiss-BubbleBeam was used in Dawn's Early Night! First Pachirisu uses Sweet Kiss, and then Piplup uses BubbleBeam and the two moves combine making the hearts go inside the bubbles.
- Bubble Sphere was used in A Grand Fight for Winning! it was the first attack made by Dawn, it starts off with Piplup using BubbleBeam and it forms into a circle and then Togekiss uses Aura Sphere in the middle of the circle. It is unknown what Dawn was going to do with this, because Zoey destroyed it with her Glameow and Gallade in a matter of seconds.
- Aura Whirlpool was used in the final battle of the Sinnoh Grand Festival against Zoey. For the move, after Piplup launched a Whirlpool Togekiss would then fire an Aura Sphere inside, causing the Whirlpool to turn blue. Using this move, Piplup and Togekiss were able to successfully counter Glameow and Gallade's Signal-Tail combination.
- Rocket Formation was also used in the final battle of the Sinnoh Grand Festival against her long-time rival Zoey in A Grand Fight for Winning!. Dawn orders her Togekiss to utilize Sky Attack while having Piplup on her back, and consequently she orders Piplup to use Peck. It results on a crimson aerial attack which resembles a Rocket, that Dawn uses to conclude her battle.
- Hydro Volt Tackle is used as a finishing blow against Team Rocket in Memories Are Made of Bliss!. It is a combination of Ash's Pikachu's Volt Tackle and Piplup's Hydro Pump creating a massive Electric-Water shot.
- Bubble-Swift Combination was a combination Dawn worked on during her time at home prior to SS024 it starts off with Piplup jumping on top of Cyndaquil and forming BubbleBeam into a circle then Cyndaquil uses Swift in the middle of the circle. It is unknown what Dawn was going to do with this, because Johanna destroyed it with her Glameow and Umbreon in a matter of seconds.
- Flaming Whirlpool was a combination Dawn worked on during her time at home prior to SS024. For the combination, Piplup would cover a Flame Wheel created by Cyndaquil with a Whirlpool which created a sphere of water with fire inside. However, when Dawn attempted to use it during her practice battle against Johanna, the combination failed, throwing both Pokémon to the ground.
In the manga
In the movie adaptations
Dawn's Piplup appears in the following manga adaptations of Pokémon movies: The Rise of Darkrai, Giratina and the Sky Warrior, Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Zoroark: Master of Illusions, like in the anime is Dawn's main Pokémon. The role of Piplup is basically the same in all the chapters, however in most stories it is shown inside his Poké Ball and has fewer interactions with Pokémon present in the story.
The Rise of Darkrai
He is first shown when Dawn sends her Pokémon out to play with several other Pokémon. Later, he is used in to battle against Darkrai alongside with Buizel but they are both defeated by the great power of the Dark-type Pokémon.
Moves used
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| A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves. | |||||||||||||
In the TCG
Dawn's Piplup is featured in the TCG as a Pokémon 
. The following is a list of cards named Piplup .
| Name | Type | Level | Rarity | Set | Set no. |
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| Piplup M |  |
39 | - | Movie Commemoration Random Pack (no English release) | 007/022 |
Trivia
- For Wild in the Streets, Professor Oak's lecture is about Dawn's Piplup. He writes this Pokémon senryū about him: ポッチャマが みずにとびこむ ぽっちゃんと Potchama ga, mizu ni tobikomu, potchanto "Pochama jumps into the water with a splash."
- The opening sequence of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl shows Dawn's Piplup coming out of his Poké Ball with a trail of stars behind him. However, Dawn did not use a star seal with Piplup's Poké Ball until Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!, three seasons later.
- Dawn has been keeping Piplup outside of his Ball, instead of inside of it, much like Ash keeps his Pikachu, though Piplup never directly expressed that he did not like being inside of the Ball.
- Piplup was unwilling to obey Dawn when they first met. Eventually, they became fast friends after Pikachu and Piplup saved their respective Trainers from an attacking group of Pokémon; Pikachu saved Ash from a flock of Spearow while Piplup saved Dawn from a swarm of Ariados.
- Also, he has expressed reluctance to evolve and chose to stay in his base form for the time being, and Dawn was given an Everstone to prevent Piplup from evolving.
- Piplup was unwilling to obey Dawn when they first met. Eventually, they became fast friends after Pikachu and Piplup saved their respective Trainers from an attacking group of Pokémon; Pikachu saved Ash from a flock of Spearow while Piplup saved Dawn from a swarm of Ariados.
- Piplup's gender was confirmed to be male in Three Sides to Every Story!.
- Piplup has battled his two evolutions; a Prinplup in Settling a Not-So-Old Score!, and an Empoleon in The Rise of Darkrai.
- During an interview with former director and storyboard artist of the Pokémon anime, Masamitsu Hidaka, he revealed that Dawn's Piplup would likely not evolve very soon, referring to his evolutions as "ugly" or not good for Contests.
- Of all of the Diamond & Pearl series episodes, Piplup was only completely absent from 17 of the 191 episodes.
- Piplup is the second Pokémon in the anime to stop evolving while the process is happening, the first being Ash's Bulbasaur.
- Piplup was featured in a promotional C-Gear skin alongside Brock's Croagunk in Japan to celebrate the anime specials featuring Dawn and Brock.
Related articles
- For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Piplup.
- Episodes focusing on Piplup
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
