Brock (anime)

Brock was originally the Gym Leader of Pewter City Gym, but decided to follow his dream and become the greatest Pokémon Breeder he can be, so after his defeat from Ash Ketchum, he quickly gave up his title. He accompanied Ash on his journey for quite some time, all while trying to live up to his goal. He currently wishes to be a great Pokémon Doctor.

Appearance
Brock's most notable feature about his appearance is that his eyes naturally appear closed. The rare times people see them open are when they are forced open unnaturally: from a hit with Charmander's Flamethrower in The Ninja Poké-Showdown, when being hit in the back of the head by Arbok's tail in Who Gets to Keep Togepi?, and when he makes a face for Larvitar in A Crowning Achievement. This has been the center of fan attention for a long time. He also has tan skin, notably darker than the skin of any other major character in the anime, until Iris in the Best Wishes series. Brock, along with Tracey and Cilan, are the tallest of Ash's traveling companions, and the closest to looking like an adult. Next to actual adult characters, however, it is clear that he is still a teenager. Not counting temporary outfits, he has worn three different outfits, all of which have had the colors orange, green, and brown, with blue shoes.

Personality
Brock is considered the most mature, wise and level-headed of the main characters, and he is arguably the most intelligent character as well. He often acts as an older brother and caretaker to the other characters and a voice of reason in disputes. He will usually place others before him and will help and support his friends even against his better judgment or at his own expense. While he is not shown to battle often, he can understand the situations and strategies in any Pokémon battle, and often explains them to the other characters, probably due to the fact that he was once a Gym Leader. His wisdom is possibly derived from how observant he is; he can tell just by sight how a Pokémon is feeling. Brock always carries books and maps with him, and thus is usually the character who knows where the group is headed and what they can do when they get there, though in the Advanced Generation series this role was mostly taken over by Max, who owns a PokéNav. He also carries a lot of other supplies, such as Potions, Pokémon food, and a set of cookware, as well as practical tools like a brush and pocket knife; in The School of Hard Knocks, the extent of his preparedness and comically large capacity of his bag was demonstrated, as he pulled out a table and full tea set out of his backpack. He is a domestic, and grooms not only his Pokémon but also those of his friends with whom he travels. He handles all the cooking and cleaning for his friends.

Despite this, all his maturity and rationality leaves him completely at the sight of a beautiful woman. Brock has a desperate need for female companionship which grows worse as he fails to gain it. He will do anything and everything he thinks will impress women, which inevitably ends with his heart being broken every time. A few women have shown interest in him as well, such as Wilhelmina, Temacu, Natalie, Lucy, Holly, Autumn, Narissa and Lizabeth, but most others do not notice him or are not interested. No matter how many times he is disappointed, though, Brock remains determined to find a girl to start a relationship with, and has indicated several times he would stop traveling with Ash and stay with the girl if this happened. This behavior tends to wear on the nerves of other characters, and Misty and Max have both commonly dragged Brock away from women by his ear. Some of Brock's own Pokémon, most notably Croagunk, have attacked him for getting too flirtatious with women. His goals have played a passive role in his character's activity and development, and his role has generally been one as support for other main characters, usually contributing more in terms of wisdom and comedic antics than the action of the series. Unlike other characters, who aspire to achieve and excel in competitive fields like Pokémon training and Pokémon Contests, his aim to become a great Pokémon Breeder is a quiet one and thus does not get showcased frequently. This caused him to question if he was actually pursuing his dreams like his friends were near the end of the Diamond & Pearl series, and ultimately lead to him deciding to become a Pokémon Doctor instead. His other goal, to find a girlfriend, is similar to Team Rocket's quest to capture Pikachu in that both are for comedy and thus doomed to fail.

Biography
When Ash arrives in Pewter City, following getting his Pokémon healed at the Pokémon Center by Nurse Joy, he travels to the Pewter City Gym to face Brock for his Boulder Badge. However, due to Brock specializing in Rock-type Pokémon, Pikachu is no match for Onix, and Ash is forced to surrender the match. After Ash loses to Brock, a stranger offers to help make his Pikachu stronger. Pikachu (after being hooked up to a local hydro-power station) becomes stronger and manages to defeat Geodude, but Onix remains too strong. Onix has Pikachu in a body bind; however, Pikachu's previous electric attack ravaged the gym, which set off the sprinklers, weakening his Onix. Though Pikachu is able to then damage Onix further, before Ash can deal the finishing blow, he is restrained by Brock's younger siblings, demanding he leave Onix alone, before Brock orders them to stand down. Though Ash technically won, he declines the badge on the grounds that he unfairly beat Brock, but Brock later catches up to him and presents him with the Boulder Badge anyway, saying that he wants Ash to fulfill his dream of becoming the best. The stranger that first helped Ash reveals himself to be Brock's father, Flint. Flint has a tendency to keep people in the dark about who he is.

After entrusting Flint with taking care of the gym and the rest of his siblings, Brock is now free to train himself, and joins Ash and Misty on their journey. Since then, he travels with Ash and Misty on his many adventures. In the Orange Islands series, he leaves the team to join Professor Felina Ivy, but mysteriously returns to Pallet Town when Ash wins the Orange League Championship. When asked what happened, Brock just rolled up into a ball and replied, "I don't wanna talk about it" or "Don't mention that name". This would happen every time someone mentioned Professor Ivy. Rejoining Ash and Misty, Brock travels to Johto, where he continues to help Ash and Misty. Upon the conclusion of the Silver Conference, the three part ways, Brock heading back to Pewter City. It is there (in an episode of Pokémon Chronicles) that he discovers his estranged mother Lola (Mizuho in the original), who, because she is a Water-type Pokémon Trainer, has ruined the reputation of the Gym he defended so long ago and had ended up filling the gym with water (causing Brock to comically freak out and keep repeating "A LAKE!!!" when he first sees it).

By defeating his mother, he restores the Gym's reputation, and proceeds to leave all his Pokémon (except Forretress) to his younger brother Forrest, before departing for the Hoenn region, where he catches up with Ash and his two new friends, May and Max.

The group travel across Hoenn and then return to Kanto to participate in the Battle Frontier. The group went their separate ways and Brock met up with Ash in Sinnoh. While there, they meet a new coordinator named Dawn and her partner Piplup, who joins them on their journey through Sinnoh.

During this time, both Brock's father, Flint (Munō in the original, who was also Brock's predecessor as Gym Leader), ran off again, and his oldest younger brother Forrest (Jirō in the original) took the role of Gym Leader in Pewter City, as well as the responsibility of caring for his many other younger siblings. Brock is the oldest of ten siblings, with five brothers and four sisters.

Brock is always well-equipped, and is sometimes the voice of reason when Ash and Misty (and later, May and Dawn) get into an argument. He is also hardworking and is always willing to help others. Coupled with his experiences in taking care of others, Brock often prepares food and does most of the chores for the main characters. Brock is also exceptionally good at making food for Pokemon.

At the end of the Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl series, Brock aspires to become a Pokémon Doctor, and work alongside Nurse Joy. After departing from Ash and Dawn, Brock returns home to Pewter City to train to become a Pokémon Doctor.

In the Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Special Episode 2, he's revealed to have photos of Ash, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Piplup, and Pikachu to remind him of how much fun it was traveling with them. He also chooses his brother Forrest to replace him as Gym Leader so he can study to become a Pokemon Doctor.

In the Black and White Special, he encounters Cilan in a small town. He helps treat Pansage after it got hurt fighting a Gyarados. The two form a fast friendship and work together as they help Gyarados. As they part ways, they both realize they never asked for each other's name.

Running gags
Over the course of the series, there have come to be a couple of recurring gags related to Brock that have become quite prominent.

Girls
One of the most notable running gags in the anime is that Brock makes advances and goes virtually love sick crazy on every girl his age or older, and is usually met by rejection, confusion, or being dragged away from them by Misty, Max, or his Pokémon, Croagunk. One of several exceptions was Professor Ivy, the Pokémon Professor from the Orange Islands, with whom he spent some time away from the show. He later returns but refuses to explain why he left her, simply saying "Don't mention that name!" Pike Queen Lucy of the Battle Frontier in Tohjo Falls seems to have a liking towards Brock (partially because she has a soft spot for Pokémon with squinty eyes) almost traveling with him, before Max interrupts. Other girls who had feelings for Brock include Wilhelmina, Temacu, Natalie, Autumn, Narissa, Lizabeth and Holly.

His crushes include the various Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, which he can differentiate with ease based on very perceptive but minute observations. Because of this, he can spot imposter Joys and Jennys instantly. Other crushes are: Rhonda, Rhoda.

Oatmeal Pokémon
Another one of the notable running gags is how Brock is forced to entertain an audience while other characters retrieve something which would typically be another Pokémon that would have been putting on a show for the current audience that has likely been stolen by Team Rocket. During the cases in which he does, such as he repeats one song (usually an English version of "Takeshi no Paradise", one of the Japanese ending themes) ad nauseam to the point that he is either booed offstage or loses interest in singing. He once revealed that the reason why he sings that song over and over is because it's the only song he knows. After Ash finished the Sinnoh league, Ash and Brock left back to Kanto and went their separate ways. In the Pokémon DP Special Episode 2, Brock is shown studying to become a Pokémon Doctor, and even has photos of Ash, Pikachu, Misty, May, Max, Dawn and Piplup, reminding himself of how much he misses all of them.

Achievements

 * P1 Grand Prix - Eliminated
 * Big P Pokémon race: Disqualified (Onix wouldn't go in water)
 * Pokémon Beauty Contest: N/A (with Suzy)
 * Pokémon balloon race: Winner (with Ash and Misty)
 * Pokémon Orienteering: N/A
 * Pokémon Contests
 * Gardenia Contest: Runner-Up
 * Pokémon Dress-up Contest: Winner
 * Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition: Top 4 (with Holly)
 * Pastoria Croagunk Festival: N/A
 * Twinleaf Festival Battle tournament: N/A

Voice Actors

 * English:
 * Eric Stuart (Seasons 1 - 8, Movies 1 - 8) (4Kids)
 * Bill Rogers (Seasons 9 - 13, Movies 9 - 13) (PUSA/DuArt)
 * Japanese: Yūji Ueda
 * German: Marc Stachel
 * Dutch: Fred Meijer
 * Italian: Nicola Bartolini Carrassi (Season 1 - 2); Luca Bottale (Season 3 - 13)
 * Greek: Charis Grigoropoulos
 * Brazilian Portuguese: Alfredo Rollo
 * Swedish: Mattias Knave
 * Arabic: Rafat Pazo
 * Bulgarian: Alexander Voronov
 * Mandarin: Fu Shuang, Liang Xingchang, Yu Zhengsheng
 * Finnish: Jari Salo, Juha Paananen
 * Korean: Ku Ja-Hyeong, Byeon Yeong-Hyi
 * Croatian: Igor Mešin
 * Danish: Peter Holst-Beck
 * Czech: Martin Pisarik, Jan Maxian, Michal Holan, Jiri Balcarek
 * French: Laurent Chauvet (Season 1-8), Antoni Lo Presti (Season 9-13)
 * Norwegian: Eirik Espolin-Johnson, Erik Skold
 * Filipino: Julius Figueroa
 * Hebrew: Guy Roshiniak
 * Polish: Marek Wlodarczyk (Season 1-9, 11-13), Waldemar Barwinski (Season 10)
 * Hungarian: Sotonyi Gabor
 * Canadian French: Martin Watier
 * Portuguese: Peter Michael (Season 1-2), Rui Quintas (Season 3-9), Luis Barros (Season 10), Pedro Almendra (Season 11-13), Vitor Emanuel
 * Indonesian: Dicky Rahman (Season 1-2), Dendry Patma (Season 3-10), Kamal Nasuti (Season 11-13)
 * Russian: Dimitrii Zavatskii
 * Spanish: Javier Balas, Sergio Sanchez
 * Thai: Nirand Bunyaratpan
 * Latin American Spanish: Gabriel Gama(season 1 - 10, 13-present), Jose Antonio Macia(one scene of EP164), Alan Prieto(season 10-12), Arturo Mercado Jr. (Movie 4-5).
 * Turkish: Tugay Erverdi

Trivia

 * Brock's personality reflects Uxie's one; the Knowledge Pokemon.
 * In the Pokémon DP Special, Brock has photos of Ash, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Pikachu, and Piplup to remind him of his past journeys through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Kanto's Battle Frontier and Sinnoh.
 * Brock is a very talented cook, especially when it comes to making food for Pokémon (this is related to the fact he is a Pokémon Breeder).
 * In the episode "A Crowning Achievement", Brock actually temporarily opens his eyes in a flash second to try to cheer up Larvitar.
 * Brock's eyes are rarely open, excluding the examples shown.
 * At the beginning of the anime, Brock didn't show a lot of interest in girls. After a while, he finally shows it.
 * Brock is the only character who has appeared in every season except for the Best Wishes ones, although he only appears in flashbacks with Dawn and Ash.
 * As seen in the episode "The Taming of The Shroomish", Brock is apparently afraid of ghosts. While he and May were shopping, she heard of a haunted mansion. He was terrified just hearing about it, and, while May was overjoyed, she literally had to drag him there. Whenever he heard somebody talking about ghosts, he leaned away. He was afraid of the mansion, and showed dismay and horror when they talked about advancing inside. He was fine once he found out that the ghosts were actually Shroomish, though. He was also fine on Ghoul Daze!, among other episodes.
 * Brock's real dream is to become a Pokémon doctor. However in "Jirachi: Wish Maker", he said he wanted to become a magician because he could make "beautiful girls appear out of thin air".
 * He can notice the small things that make each Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny physically different.
 * It is said that Brock was taken out and replaced with Tracey due to the notion that he would be racially insensitive to Pokémon's growing world-wide audience. When it was revealed that said notion wasn't the case at all, they put him back in for Johto.