He also has spiky brown hair and tan skin, notably darker than the skin of any other major character in the anime (until Iris in the Best Wishes series).Īlong with Tracey, Cilan, and Kiawe, Brock is the tallest of Ash's traveling companions and the closest to looking like an adult. This has been the center of fan attention for a long time.
The rare times he fully opens his eyes are when they are forced to open unnaturally examples include when he was hit by Charmander's Flamethrower in The Ninja Poké-Showdown, when he was hit in the back of the head by Arbok's tail in Who Gets to Keep Togepi?, and when he made a face for Larvitar in A Crowning Achievement. Perhaps if he was introduced in another way rather than as Brock's replacement he might have faired better, but that unfortunately was not the case.Brock's most notable feature is that his eyes appear to be closed all the time. This new character tagged along during the events of the Orange Islands saga but has since not made another major appearance and is hardly mentioned. As far as his replacement, Tracey wasn't so lucky.
Though he isn't part of Ash's permanent crew, Brock has made appearances in the Pokemon anime more recently. Coming off the back of this controversy, it's understandable that Pokemon would want to be a bit more careful in the future when it comes to cultural and racial matters. As the franchise was getting its footing in the western market, American audiences were outraged by the appearance of Jynx, who seemed to represent black face due to its dark skin and exaggerated facial features. To contextualize this, it's important to look back at the debacle with the Pokemon Jynx. Since then he was one of Ash's most consistent travelling partners. In the end it seemed this wasn't the case, as Pokemon added Brock back in after fans voiced their disappointment in the change. One of Brock's most notable features are his eyes (or lack thereof), a feature which the showrunners were worried could be interpreted as a sort of racist stereotype. Because of this public outcry, Brock was eventually reinstated, but the reason for his brief leave of absence wasn't very clear until a 2008 interview with Masamitsu Hidaka in which the director wen into greater detail about the reason for the shake up.Īs it happens, the actual reason for Brock's departure was fear from the localisation team that Brock might be perceived as racist by American audiences.
RELATED: Pokemon Masters Will Feature All Past Trainers, Including Brock and Mistyįor the longest time, fans didn't know why this decision was made, as Brock was something of a fan favorite character. While this is fairly normal, the most shocking change by far was the replacing of Brock with a new character, Tracey. Old school Pokemonfans no doubt fondly remember the days in Kanto when Ash travelled alongside Brock and Misty, but since then his entourage has changed nearly every season. Certain aspects, like Ash's age and his primary partner, Pikachu, have endured throughout everything, but other things like the friends he travels with have changed drastically. The Pokemon anime is unique from many others as it has simultaneously changed a lot and not at all over its 23 year run.