Banette is a black, humanoid, doll-like bipedal Pokémon which is possessed with pure hatred. It has three spikes on its head and a long zigzag-shaped ribbon hanging down from its head. It has a zipper-like mouth. Its has long, three-fingered hands and short, stubby legs, and has a yellow brush-like tail, which can resemble a needle stuck into its body. It lays curses on others by using its body as a voodoo doll and sticking pins into itself. It lives in garbage dumps and dark alleys, where it searches for the person that threw it away before it became a Pokémon.
When Mega Evolved as Mega Banette, this Pokémon gains four further zippers; one across its face, one on each hand and another on its body. The first zip comes from its left eye to the tip of its central spike. The other three are all unzipped, with ones on each hand revealing three long purple fingers and the third on its body revealing two pointed purple legs. Its zigzag-shaped ribbon becomes erect to appear like a longer spike which two rings in the style of zips, and a short zip on the tip of the spike. It gains two further spikes on each hand; one on the top and another on the bottom. It looses it's brush-like tail and becomes a darker shade of purple.
When Meowth was attempting to disguise himself as a Banette in Ghoul Daze!, he was scared off by a real one that was accompanied by a Shuppet and Duskull.
One of Sird's main Pokémon is a Banette, which she used in her battle with Silver to take him into custody on Giovanni's behalf. Against its short fight against the latter's Red Gyarados, it proved to be a force to be reckoned with as it easily overpowered its opponent.
Banette generates energy for laying strong curses by sticking pins into its own body. This Pokémon was originally a pitiful plush doll that was thrown away.
A cursed energy permeated the stuffing of a discarded and forgotten plush doll, giving it new life as Banette. The Pokémon's energy would escape if it were to ever open its mouth.
According to the Pokédex, Banette's cursed energy would escape from its body if its mouth came unzipped. Despite this, the anime had several instances with its mouth open.
Banette's Mega Evolution can be seen opening it's mouth when it is finished performing the Mega Evolution.
Its appearance and habit of sticking itself with pins is highly reminiscent of voodoo dolls. Its Pokédex backstory of an ordinary doll coming to life is similar to the Tsukumogami.
Juppeta may be a combination of 呪縛 jubaku (curse or spell) and puppet. It may also refer to Geppetto, a woodcarver who built a puppet that came to life in the story of Pinocchio.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.