Jynx is a bipedal, humanoidPokémon that resembles a woman. It has a purple face, pink lips, saucer-like eyes, and long blonde hair. It wears a red gown with two gold circlets on the chest. While the Pokémon the Series episode Stage Fight! showed it to possess feet, the games show only blackness under the dress, and it lacks a footprint. Despite this, it is able to learn the kicking move Triple Axel. It has white arms and five-fingered purple hands. Jynx is a female-only species with no male counterpart.
Originally, its face was colored black. Pokémon Stadium's fainting animation had it disappear leaving only its hair behind, implying that what appears to be dark-colored skin is actually just darkness.
Jynx has a language that sounds similar to human speech and includes several cry patterns. However, this language has yet to be deciphered. It prefers to communicate by using dance-like movements. There are some musicians who compose songs for Jynx to sing. These rhythmic movements often cause people to dance along with it. The Jynx in Alola are said to have wonderful precise movements. In certain parts of Galar, it has been feared and worshiped while being called the "Queen of Ice". The Jynx in Galar are said to have beautiful and delicate voices and a fanbase dedicated to them. Jynx are able to extend their lips to kiss its opponent. Jynx often is found in urban areas.
It rocks its body rhythmically. It appears to alter the rhythm depending on how it is feeling. (Pokémon Red, Silver, or Crystal inserted) It speaks a language similar to that of humans. However, it seems to use dancing to communicate. (Pokémon Blue, Gold, or Yellow inserted)
Jynx walks rhythmically, swaying and shaking its hips as if it were dancing. Its motions are so bouncingly alluring, people seeing it are compelled to shake their hips without giving any thought to what they are doing.
A Jynx sashays rhythmically as if it were dancing. Its motions are so bouncingly alluring, people seeing it are compelled to shake their hips without noticing.
Jynx walks rhythmically, swaying and shaking its hips as if it were dancing. Its motions are so bouncingly alluring, people seeing it are compelled to shake their hips without giving any thought to what they are doing.
I’ve heard that Jynx can make all sorts of things happen just by wishing for them. We did see some odd occurrences in the Shiver Snowfields involving Jynx, so there may be some truth to that claim.
In Three Jynx and a Baby!, a trio of Jynx sisters living in Cremini Town were overprotective towards their sister, a Smoochum. The Smoochum evolved into a fourth Jynx at the end of the episode. This also marks the last physical appearance of a Jynx in the animated series to date.
Minor appearances
In Stage Fight!, a Jynx was part of a showboat stage show. She was briefly taken by Team Rocket.
In All Things Bright and Beautifly!, a Coordinator's Jynx competed in the Rustboro City Contest. However, this appearance was cut from the English dub. This also marks the final time Jynx's original design was used in the animated series.
Jynx, the Human Shape Pokémon. This Pokémon has some very unusual powers. Its special attack is the Lovely Kiss, which puts its opponent into a deep sleep.
A fortune-telling Jynx appears in Magical Pokémon Journey. Arbok goes to Jynx's fortune-telling hut to find out if he has a chance with his crush, Wigglytuff.
Jynx debuted in The Jynx Jinx, under the ownership of Ken. She was used to attack Red and Green after they tricked Team Rocket and take Mew. When she attacked Mew, Red and Green tried to defend it, only to be defeated. Mew retaliated against Jynx and defeated her and Ken, while sparing Red and Green.
Lorelei's Jynx first appeared in Jigglypuff Jive. It is noted for having the ability to generate voodoo dolls out of ice using its Ice Beam. When Lorelei draws crosses on any part of the dolls using her lipstick, ice shackles form on the specified body parts of her targets, eventually freezing the victim over completely. She can also create a wispy band of ice around targets, which Lorelei can use to track them down using her powder case.
Jynx's sprite in the Virtual Console re-release of Pokémon Yellow uses five colors instead of four. To achieve this effect, some of the 8×8 tiles composing the sprite use an altered palette, where black is replaced with purple, which is technically possible on a Game Boy Color game.
The Pokémon Stadium games feature a kicking animation for Jynx, in which its feet appear out of nowhere, disconnected from its body, to perform moves such as Mega Kick. This is one of the rare instances where its feet can be seen in the games, considering Jynx's lack of footprints.
In September 1999, Mary C. Morton released an article in The Washington Post titled "Pokemon: The Dark Side"[1] where she, alongside other critiques of Pokémon in general, criticised Jynx's design on the grounds of sexism, criticising Jynx's "explicitly, albeit grossly caricatured, womanly features" in The Official Pokemon Handbook, bringing up its sensational descriptions of its hips and Lovely Kiss.
In January 2000, cultural critic Carole Boston Weatherford condemned Jynx as a negative African-American stereotype in Black World Today, comparing it to racist figures from The Story of Little Black Sambo, Drag Queens, and the similarly controversial Mr. Popo from Dragon Ball.[2] This led to significant changes: Jynx's sprites in Western Pokémon games were altered, and episodes of Pokémon the Series featuring its original design were cut from international airings. Game Freak revised Jynx's skin color to purple, which was reflected in later games and in the animated series, also correcting Jynx's arms from red to white. Recolored versions of affected episodes updating Jynx's depiction were also made available on Japanese Blu-ray and streaming services. Manga reissues have since used a dark gray hue for Jynx instead of black. Jynx's face was also recolored purple on manga covers and in Virtual Console game re-releases. Some fans speculate Jynx may instead have other origins, such as from gyaru or ganguro fashion, though some of these theories have faced criticism for their timeline and relevance.[3]
Jynx's first documented design can be seen in Satoshi Tajiri: The Man Who Created Pokémon, a biographical manga about Satoshi Tajiri, dating Jynx's design to around 1992-1993.[4] Game Freak's headquarters was in close-proximity to Shibuya 109, which was a common gathering place for ギャル gyaru street fashion in the 1980s-1990s; gyaru, being a sub-culture of primarily women who wear fake tan and bleached hair, is a likely inspiration for Jynx's design. This is played upon further with Smoochum, referencing the trend of gyaru-mamas raising their children in their image.
The original Jynx's black skin and prominent lips bore a startling resemblance to "blackface" or "darky" iconography. Jynx's depiction as Santa's helper in Holiday Hi-Jynx may reference the Dutch folklore character Zwarte Piet. Jynx's revised coloring may be based on purple discoloration of the skin, a common symptom of frostbite. This fits with Jynx's Ice type and how it is found in very cold places.
Jynx may be based on a Nordic or Viking woman (possibly Hel, goddess of the underworld). Jynx also has traits of a female opera singer, especially the iconic cartoon depiction of the fat lady; Pokémon Snap and its Generation III sprites depict it singing, especially the Pokémon Emerald sprite that animates it singing a high note. Specifically, it may be inspired by the Ride of the Valkyries, from the opera Die Walküre, the second of four operas by Richard Wagner based on Norse mythology. In this context, it is possible that the Valkyries, mythical warrior-maidens who gathered the souls of those slain in battle, are another inspiration for Jynx.
Jynx may also have origins in the Japanese snow spirits known as Yuki-onna, who lack feet, akin to Jynx's feet being covered by its dress. It may also be based on Yama-uba (also called Yamanba), a yōkai that is described as always wearing a tattered kimono, having whitish-blonde hair, and living on cold mountaintops.
Name origin
Jynx may be a corruption of jinx, a curse or hex of bad luck.
Rougela may be derived from rouge, a type of makeup and also the French word for red, and also from the French verb geler (to freeze, to be freezing cold).
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.