Blue Oak (Pokémon Game Series)

Blue Oak is a Pokémon Trainer from Pokémon Red and Blue. He's the rival to the player character, which may be Red or Leaf depending on gender and what game is being played, setting a standard for the rest of the series to follow. He is a fan favorite and the focus of many fanworks. He also makes appearances in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Masters, Pokémon Origins and Pokéspe.
In Japanese, he is known as 'Green Oak'. This is more common in fan circles surrounding doujinshi and shipping, where his name may be Green to stay true to the original Japanese releases of Red and Blue. In official English translations, he is known as Blue Oak, a name also popular with fans.
Green Oak may be confused for Blue, a Female character who he switched names with when Red and Blue was released outside of Japan. In Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Let's Go! Eevee and Pokéspe, she is known as Green and this is considered a variant of Leaf. Shipnames for pairings featuring him often are also misused when fans confuse which character and -verse the name is referring to. The Pokémon he is most associated with are Umbreon and Blastoise.
==Canon Overview==
Blue is antagonistic and rude towards the player. He will always choose the starter Pokémon which is super-effective against yours. In Pokémon Yellow, he literally waltzes into his grandpa's lab with his fancy, 1/2 speed special walking animation and just flat out steal the player's starter Eevee, making it so you start with Pikachu instead. While he does become champion for some time, he is inevitably defeated by the player.
Blue reappears in Pokémon Gold and Silver, now replacing Giovanni as a gym leader for the player to defeat. His name is canonized here, being known as Green in Japanese and Blue in English. Set three years after the events of the first games, Blue appears to be more mature and collected in these games than in past titles, no longer such a dick. Again, he is inevitably defeated by the player.
Blue makes several cameos afterwards. The first was during Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 in the Pokémon World Tournament, competing alongside his fellow Johto Gym Leaders, meaning he kept his position in the league throughout all these years. During Pokémon X and Y, he is alluded to as possibly being in the region. Fans speculate he may have been studying Pokémon there during this time. In Pokémon Sun and Moon, he appears as the Master of the Battle Tree along with Red, with them now being older as well as friends. Finally, as of 2023, he appeared in Pokémon Let's Go! Pikachu and Let's Go! Eevee, (which softly rebooted the Gen I games,) having matured as a person and guiding Trace as well as the player, (Chase or Elaine,) in their Pokemon Journey.
==Relationships==
==== M/M ====
* Blue is most commonly paired up with Red, forming NamelessShipping, which is Male/Male, aka yaoi. In Japanese, this is most often called レグリ (Reguri), meaning Red is the seme and Blue is the uke in the coupling.
** The opposite is also commonly shipped and is written as グリレ (Gurire).
** ライ主♂, meaning Rival x Male Protagonist, also works.
** It had its own section on Bulbapedia, seen .
** This is by far his most popular pairing and it may be considered a juggernaut ship for Generation I's fandom overall.
==== F/M ====
* Blue is also shipped with Leaf, forming ConflictingShipping, which is Female/Male, aka NL. In Japanese, this is called グリリフ (Guririfu)
**初代ライ主♀ is another way of writing it, meaning First Rival x Female Protagonist.
**It had its own section on Bulbapedia, seen .
**ライ主♀, meaning Rival x Female Protagonist, also works.
* Blue is also shipped with Lyra, forming TokiwaShipping, which is Female/Male, aka NL. In Japanese, this is called グリ主♀ (Gre x Female Protagonist)
==== Gen ====
* Together, Blue, Red and Leaf make up the Kanto Trio
** In Japanese, their gen (combi in Japanese) relationship is called 関東トリオ, meaning Kanto Trio.
** This is not to be confused with カントリオ, which is this same group but for Pokéspe.
** カントー組 may also be used, though that just translates as Kanto Group, so it includes any large group of Kanto characters.
=== Less Popular Relationships===
(He is called "Green" for convenience in these)
*AarghStopGlitchingShipping - Green & Missingno
*AbsoluteRivalryShipping - Barry, Green, Brendan, Cheren, Silver, Wally, Bianca & May
*AcesHighShipping - Green & Pidgeot
*AdverseShipping - Green & Wally
*AllusiveShipping - Green, Red & Steven Stone
*AlmostneverShipping - Bill & Green
*AlternatePalletShipping - Ash & Green
*AmericaEffYeah!Shipping - Green, Red, Hilda & Braviary
*AmericaShipping - Green, Red & Hilda
*AmIGreatOrWhatShipping - Green & himself
*AobozuShipping - Green & Morty
*ApaturaShipping - Green & Bugsy
*ArchRivalShipping - Green, Gary Oak, Pokéspe!Green, Pokéspe!Blue & Leaf
*AssumptionShipping - Green & Thorton
*AwesomeRivalShipping - Barry, Green & Silver
*AwesomeThemeMusicShipping - Green, Red, Iris, Arceus, Cobalion & Thundurus...And these are just the A's! More can be found on Neverending Romance, a community-created relationship name list.
==Popular Tropes & Fanon==
[freeform tags, headcanons]
== Subjects of Fannish Interest & Meta==
[discourse, trivia, popular memes, character analysis, fan reactions, really anything]
== Example/Notable Fanac==
=== Fan Communities/Fan Events ===
* , a club on Deviantart for Blue/Red.
=== Fan Fic ===
* by Cryptographic_Delurk, one-shot, taking place post-game, where Blue's gym keeps on being messed with (graffitied, TPed) and he doesn't know why. Blue & Agatha. Rated Gen.
* , longfic where Leaf is in charge of an anonymous advice column at her school. Blue Oak/Leaf.
=== Fan Art ===
* by perirowinque - Blue and his Eevee
* by 清順(トンボ), fanart of Red, Green and Blue Oak along with the Kanto starters, Mew, Pikachu and a giant Gameboy for the series' 27th anniversary.
=== Fan Mixes ===
* (2014)
=== Wikis ===
* on Bulbapedia
* on PixivEncyclopedia
* on Shipping Wiki
Category:Pokémon Characters