Clefairy

Clefairy
Pokémon series character
National Pokédex Nidoking - Clefairy (#35) - Clefable
First game	Pokémon Red and Blue
Designed by	Ken Sugimori
Voiced by	Tara Jane (English) Mayumi Yamaguchi (Japanese)

Clefairy (ピッピ, Pippi) is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Clefairy first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue and subsequent sequels. They have later appeared in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. Known as the Fairy Pokémon, Clefairy is the mascot of Pokémon manga, and appears as a main character in many of them, such as Magical Pokémon Journey and Pokémon Pocket Monsters.

Design and characteristics

Clefairy is a small, bipedal Pokémon. Clefairy appears to be a pink creature, with stocky limbs and a round body which gives it a chubby appearance. It also possess large sensitive ears that have brown tips. It has small wings that seem incapable of flight, but allow it to bounce gracefully; however, when their wings are exposed to moonlight, energy is stored allowing them to float in midair.^[1] Clefairy was chosen as the main character of the manga to make it more engaging for readers. However, Pikachu, who was chosen as the anime mascot, became the mascot for the whole series in order to appeal to younger female readers and their mothers.^[2]

Clefairys are popular as pets for their adorable features.^[3] The most well-known ability that a Clefairy has is the ability to use Metronome, a move that involves wiggling its fingers back and forth in order to execute any move at random. Clefairy and its evolution family are the only Pokémon that can possess the Magic Guard ability without needing to be caught in the fifth generation of games' dreamworld, which prevents all forms of indirect damage. Clefairy are very shy and timid creatures. As such, they rarely show themselves to humans. Clefairy also seem to have gained a reputation as kleptomaniacs, since there have been various reports of Clefairy being seen stealing random junk. Clefairy are elusive Pokémon in the wild.^[3] On every night of a full moon, groups of Clefairy come out to play. When dawn arrives, the tired Clefairy return to their quiet mountain retreats and go to sleep nestled up against each other.^[4]

Appearances

In the video games

Clefairy first appears as one of the 151 species of Pokémon in the Pokémon Red and Blue Versions. It later appeared in several sequels, including Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the Red and Blue remakes Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, the Slot Machines feature a bonus round function with a Clefairy which points to which reel to stop first.^[5]

Outside of the main series, Clefairy stars in the Pokémon Stadium mini-game "Clefairy Says." In it, players are given a pattern of arrows to repeat back. Each time the player fails, they will receive a strike. After five strikes, the player is out.^[6] A Clefairy is obtainable from a Poké Ball item in the non-Pokémon-exclusive video games Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros Melee.

In other media

Clefairy's first anime appearance was in Clefairy and the Moon Stone, in which Ash and his friends meet a group of Clefairy at Mt. Moon, where they pray to a moon stone.^[7] In Clefairy Tales, a group of Clefairy were going around stealing random junk in Viridian City to repair their spaceship. Their leader got beaten up by Jigglypuff for stealing its microphone/pen.^[8] These Clefairy made another brief appearance in Wish Upon a Star Shape, which is the debut of their pre-evolution, Cleffa.^[9] Several Clefairy also appeared in A Real Cleffa-Hanger, when Ash and his friends visited Mt. Moon again.

Clefairy have had many major roles in various Pokémon manga series. A timid, shy Clefairy is among the main characters of the Magical Pokémon Journey manga series. A rude, crass, male Clefairy is the co-star of the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga. In Pokémon Adventures, Green owns a Clefairy that later evolves into Clefable when Red uses his Moon Stone on it. Although it was used only once for distraction against Sabrina prior to evolving, its increased power allowed it to stall Zapmolcuno for a short period of time with its Metronome. It has since been used as a main member of her team in Green's battle against Lorelei, where it Minimized itself to retrieve her miniature ice sculptures, deliberately blowing off the arm part to let the Elite Four's guard down. In The Electric Tale of Pikachu, one of the chapters focuses on the Clefairy evolution ceremony. Another chapter also focuses on Clefairy, this time with them running wild through a city.

Reception

IGN editor "Pokémon of the Day Chick" called Clefairy an "ever-popular Pokémon," though not as much as in the United States as it is in Japan. She added that she did an article for Clefairy solely because of her dislike for Clefable, though stating that it's "cool enough."^[10] GamesRadar editor Carolyn Gudmundson compared Clefairy to Jigglypuff, stating that it is far less utilized, in spite of the fact that was initially supposed to be the mascot of the series. She also noted it as a part of an overused Pokémon design, the "huggable pink blob."^[11]

References

External links

• Clefairy on Bulbapedia
• Clefairy at the Internet Movie Database