Ash's Gliscor (Japanese: サトシのグライオンSatoshi's Glion) is the fourth Pokémon captured by Ash Ketchum in the Sinnoh region. Its Japanese voice actor is Katsuyuki Konishi and its English voice actor is Marc Thompson. As a Gligar, it was voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi in both Japanese and English.
Ash caught Gliscor as a Gligar in Riding the Winds of Change! It, along with many other Gligar and a Gliscor had become trapped in a city after being blown there by a violent windstorm. Gliscor's attempts at using sonar to navigate out of the city were blocked by the tall buildings, and only served to attract more Gligar and the Pokémon soon formed a pack.
The pack survived by picking fruit from trees, and stealing food from humans. After Ash and his friends helped the pack, Gligar decided to travel with Ash, allowing him to capture it.
Gligar seems to have a habit of sticking out its tongue and winking when appearing. It also has the tendency to crash land on top of Ash due to its inability to glide properly. It would also cry when scolded by Ash as shown in Chim - Charred! and Fighting Fear With Fear!. Not only that, Gligar seems to be a crybaby of sorts, tearing up very often, especially in fear. Additionally, Gligar seems to be extremely eager to win Ash's attention and approval.
It evolved into a Gliscor in Fighting Fear With Fear! in order to save Ash from a fall. It used the Razor Fang Ash received from Gary after Gligar had a practice battle with his Umbreon. It appears to have kept its personality traits even after evolution, as it still cries when scolded by Ash and also winks and sticks its tongue out.
In DP131, Gliscor battled Paul's Torterra in Ash's full battle against Paul. Although it was able to cause a good amount of damage as well as using its speed to dodge Torterra's attacks, it couldn't escape Giga Drain, as a result being weakened while Torterra's health was restored. Ash then decided to recall Gliscor, only to use it again against Torterra later on where it was defeated after being hit with Frenzy Plant.
Gligar's means of capture was similar to Ash's Squirtle, in that it was part of a group of Pokémon of its species causing trouble for a town, joined because it wanted to go with Ash, filled Ash's party with six members, and was captured shortly before Ash met up with the region's third Gym Leader.
Gligar was the fourth Pokémon caught by Ash to debut with no revealed attacks, after Krabby, Muk, and Tauros. Its battle debut wasn't until The Bells are Singing!, revealing three attacks at once.
Fighting Fear With Fear!, the episode in which Gligar evolved into Gliscor, first aired in Japan on the Thursday of the same week that the dub of Riding the Winds of Change, the episode in which Gligar is captured, first aired in the United States. The same thing happened to Dawn's Piloswine.
Gliscor is Ash's only Pokémon and the third of a main character's Pokémon to evolve via an item (Razor Fang). The first one was Misty's Politoed (King's Rock) and the second was Brock's Ludicolo (Water Stone). Coincidentally, all these Pokémon evolved with items that belonged to someone else, and the Pokémon belong to the anime's original three protagonists. Additionally, each has happened during a different series of the anime.
Gliscor now shares a trait with Glalie as the Pokémon that filled up Ash's sixth party slot in Hoenn and Sinnoh, respectively, and evolving soon after.
Ash's Gliscor is smaller than Paul's Gliscor, a relationship similar to that which Ash's Krabby shared with a Krabby that another rival of Ash's caught.
Gliscor is the only one in Ash's current team who can have more than one ability, which is still currently unknown.
Similar to Corphish, Gliscor mostly functions as the comedic relief on Ash's team (i.e. crash landing, getting left behind by Brock, bouncing around on its tail, etc.), although Staravia shares this role at times.
Two of Ash's rivals have had one of Gligar's evolution stages. Morrison has a Gligar, while Paul has a Gliscor.
In Our Cup Runneth Over!, Gligar appeared to be blushing just moments before it tackled Ash to the floor; why it did so is unclear, but may be further evidence that it might be female, or evidence it may just be young and affectionate, as seen several times, even as a Gliscor, as it cries a lot.
Further, in Chim - Charred! Gligar repeatedly goes to Ash for hugs and affection. Gligar listens very intently and contemplatively to Ash's encouragement, seeming to drink in his every word, and is even startled when the other Pokémon encourage it. This behavior is also calls to mind Ash's Bayleef and Ash's Aipom, both of whom showed interest in Ash and are both female Pokémon. Also, the three Pokémon have English names which are also similar to their respective Japanese names, and each has evolved once.
Yet another parallel between the three Pokémon is that they each evolved to save their trainers from danger; Chikorita evolved into Bayleef to save Ash, Aipom evolved into Ambipom to save Dawn, while Gligar evolved into Gliscor to save Ash.
Another interesting relationship to note of is that these three Pokémon have run away from Ash (due to a conflict between them) at various points of time (Bayleef did so in Turning Over a New Bayleef, Aipom did so in Aipom and Circumstance, while Gliscor did so in Fighting Fear With Fear!, when it was still a Gligar), but they patch things up with him pretty quickly, usually strengthening their bond at the end of the episode.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Gligar and Gliscor.
