Ash's Totodile

Lisa Ortiz (SM042-present)

**Ash's Totodile** (Japanese: **サトシのワニノコ** *Satoshi's Waninoko*) was the fourth Pokémon that Ash caught in the Johto region, and his eighteenth overall.

## History

### Original series

Totodile first appeared in *The Totodile Duel*. Both Ash and Misty wanted to catch him, and although Totodile was stunned briefly by Pikachu, he managed to escape from their Poké Balls and knock them down with a powerful Water Gun attack. Totodile then came across Team Rocket, devoured their lunch himself, and sent them blasting off. Finally tracked down by Ash and Misty, Totodile jumped into the bushes just as they both threw their Lure Balls at him. They then found out that one of the Lure Balls had caught him. As both of them wanted Totodile for themselves, Brock declared a battle to decide who would keep him. Ash's Chikorita and Bulbasaur defeated Misty's Staryu and her newly-evolved Poliwhirl, respectively, winning the battle and earning Ash the new Totodile.

Totodile was shown to be fairly romantic, as he quickly fell in love with an Azumarill in *Love, Totodile Style*. Totodile's advances were spurned repeatedly by Azumarill, and Brock's decision to teach Totodile to be successful in love was no more successful. But when Azumarill and Pikachu were captured by Team Rocket, Totodile ignored Ash and Brock's orders for him to come back and single-handedly chased Team Rocket down, locating them in a log cabin. Totodile got captured himself but managed to cheer Azumarill up at least. When Azumarill's Trainer, Trixie, arrived with Ash and his friends, Totodile blasted Team Rocket down to help rescue Azumarill but discovered that Azumarill was in love with Trixie's Golduck, who had defeated Arbok and Weezing. Brock consoled Totodile that although he can't win every time, love is worth fighting for. Totodile seemed to take this advice in stride, falling for a Quagsire before the end of the episode.

Totodile was used fairly often during Ash's travels in Johto, but he was only used once in a Gym battle in *A Goldenrod Opportunity*. He went up against Whitney's Miltank, which proved to be far too powerful, and her Rollout attack, already powered up in the battle with Cyndaquil, knocked out Totodile in one hit. In the rematch, Totodile performed better, launching himself into the air with Water Gun and landing on top of Miltank, but he was quickly shaken off and knocked out.

In *Fight for the Light!*, he was initially used against Janina, whom Ash believed to be Jasmine, the Olivine City Gym Leader. Against her Onix, which had been coated in waterproof polish, Totodile was defeated by one Tackle.

As one of Ash's only Water-type Pokémon, Totodile was the first choice for Ash's team in the Whirl Cup, along with Kingler. In the battle with Christopher and his Kingdra in *Dueling Heroes*, Totodile showed his skills by escaping a Twister and defeating Kingdra by using Bite on its snout while Kingdra used Hydro Pump, and the result of having too much water in its body sent it off flying, and thus was defeated. In the head-to-head battle with Misty in *The Perfect Match!*, Totodile put up a good fight against her Poliwhirl by Headbutting it into a pillar, but was knocked out by a high-speed dive and Double Slap.

Totodile was used briefly in the Battle Park in *One Trick Phony!*, where he defeated a powerful Charizard used by Jessie after using Scary Face for the first time. He also fought in the unofficial Coastline Gym in *Just Add Water*, where he was revealed to know Slash. Totodile put up a very good fight in the underwater arena against Dorian's Lanturn, but Ash's inexperience in such battles and a type disadvantage caused him to lose.

In *Pop Goes The Sneasel*, Totodile was sent out to battle a wild Sneasel that was preventing the retrieval of the Sacred Fire needed to begin the Silver Conference. However, through a combination of Slash and Shadow Ball, Totodile and Ash were sent flying back.

Totodile joined Squirtle and Phanpy in Ash's battle against Macy in *Love, Pokémon Style*. He squared off against her Slugma, who was quickly swapped with her surprise entrant, Electabuzz. Ash responded to this by recalling Totodile in favor of Phanpy. Later in the battle, Totodile faced Electabuzz again, and the type disadvantage was evident - Totodile's water was blocked by Light Screen, and an attempt to Headbutt through resulted in a Thunder Punch knockout.

Totodile redeemed himself in a battle against Harrison in *Playing with Fire!*, settling the score with Sneasel. Totodile bit down on Sneasel's arm to prevent a Metal Claw attack, and knocked it out with his tail. His victory dance was very well received by the audience. Totodile's Scary Face attack had no effect against Harrison's Hypno, and he was taken control of with a Hypnosis attack, before being defeated by Psychic.

Ash left Totodile at Professor Oak's Laboratory, along with his other Johto Pokémon, when he departed for the Hoenn region.

### Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Chronicles

In *Showdown at the Oak Corral*, Totodile was seen squirting Cassidy and Butch with a Water Gun attack, but he was fired back again. Totodile later had his revenge by squirting them again with Water Gun, this time landing a successful hit. Later, he was seen blasting Cassidy and Butch off and destroying their helicopter.

In *Journey to the Starting Line!*, a string of events caused by Kingler caused Totodile to land next to Snorlax, which eventually led to to the Tauros stampeding through Professor Oak's lab. This allowed a group of starter Pokémon to escape.

In *The Right Place and the Right Mime*, Totodile met and danced with Glalie.

### Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

In *An Old Family Blend!*, Totodile reunited with Ash. He was found dancing in a water fountain and affectionately nibbled on Ash's head before being recalled to his Lure Ball. Later, he helped to put out the fire caused by Cyndaquil, together with Corphish and Piplup. Totodile was not seen participating in the Lily of the Valley Conference.

### Pokémon the Series: Black & White

Totodile was reunited with Ash in *The Dream Continues!*, where he and the rest of Ash's Pokémon posed in a group photo with him.

### Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon

Totodile briefly appeared in *Alola, Kanto!*, swimming underwater at a pond near Oak's Laboratory with Corphish.

### Pokémon Journeys: The Series

In *Advice to Goh!*, Totodile reunited with Ash during his visit to Professor Oak's Laboratory with Goh.

Totodile, along with the rest of Ash's Pokémon at the lab, reunited with Ash in *Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Spirit!*. During the visit, he was seen relaxing with Snorlax and Krookodile and later watched the battle between Ash and Paul. Before Ash left, he posed with the rest of Ash's Pokémon in a group photo with him.

From *Battling as Hard as Stone!* onwards, Totodile watched Ash's Masters Eight Tournament matches against Steven, Cynthia, and Leon. In *Partners in Time!*, Totodile appeared as a vision to Pikachu during his battle against Leon's Charizard. After Ash won the battle, Totodile joined the rest of Ash's Pokémon at the lab in celebrating their Trainer's victory.

In *Heroes Unite!*, Totodile, along with the rest of the Pokémon at the lab, welcomed Ash back to Pallet Town after his victory over Leon.

In *A Fated Face-Off!*, Totodile was shown to have rejoined Ash's team. During the episode, he reunited with Misty and later watched as she and Ash battled over a wild Clauncher. Totodile, along with Pikachu, was also seen greeting Politoed when Misty chose it for battle.

## Personality and characteristics

Totodile is a highly energetic Pokémon. He is always happy and shows this by dancing, a theme that is focused on when he is released from his Lure Ball, even when being called into a battle. He also unabashedly introduced himself to Larvitar first in *Entei at Your Own Risk*, energetically swinging Larvitar around in a circle. However, when times call for it, Totodile can be a powerful opponent, as seen when he managed to defeat Harrison's Sneasel, who had been causing trouble for Ash and Harrison earlier on in *Pop Goes the Sneasel*.

Totodile also acts as a comic relief character, as his tendency to dance is shown in many important matches, frustrating Ash, and confusing his opponents. His most significant battle, defeating Harrison's Sneasel, depicted him biting Sneasel's hand and dancing around whilst thrashing Sneasel into the ground. His Scary Face attack has also been used as a joke a couple of times, one being in a battle with Duplica's Ditto, Mini-Dit, where Totodile laughed at its imitation of the move before continuing the battle.

Totodile likes to spend time with Ash's Corphish, as shown in *An Old Family Blend!*, where they were found near each other on Lily of the Valley Island, and in *Alola, Kanto!*, where they were seen underwater together.

## Moves used

 A **†** shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

* Ash commanded Totodile to use Skull Bash in the English dub of *Dueling Heroes*, a move which Totodile cannot legally learn. In the original Japanese version, Ash commanded him to use Headbutt.
* Ash commanded Totodile to use Leer in the English dub of *Playing with Fire!*. In the original Japanese version, he commanded him to use Scary Face.

## Trivia

* Totodile is Ash's only Pokémon contained in an Apricorn Poké Ball. He is also his first Pokémon to be permanently kept inside a Poké Ball variant.
	+ Totodile is also the only Pokémon that Ash currently owns that is kept in a Poké Ball variant.
* *Pokémon the Series: XY* is the only completed series in which Totodile has not appeared in any capacity.

1. ↑ Confirmed in the Japanese version of *Love, Totodile Style*.