Sudowoodo

Sudowoodo
Pokémon series character
National Pokédex Azumarill - Sudowoodo (#185) - Politoed
First game	Pokémon Gold and Silver
Designed by	Ken Sugimori
Voiced by (English)	Bill Rogers (TPCi)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Daisuke Sakaguchi

Sudowoodo, known in Japan as Usokkie (ウソッキー), is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Sudowoodo first appeared in the video games Pokémon Gold and Silver and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise.

Concept and characteristics

Sudowoodo, known as the Imitation Pokémon, is a bending, bipedal creature that resembles a tree trunk. It has a double-pronged protuberance on its head which is larger on a male than it is on a female. It also has tiny feet, a simple face, and a pair of three-fingered hands where the fingers are green spheres resembling leaves on a tree. Although Sudowoodo pretends to be a tree, its body is made not out of wood, but rock,^[1] possibly a reference to petrified wood. Since water erodes stone, it severely dislikes water, and seems to disappear in the rain.^[2] It uses this as a form of camouflage, hiding among forest areas to avoid being attacked by enemies. In the winter seasons, when trees are either white with snow or have had their leaves fall off from autumn, Sudowoodo is easy to spot as a fake because its hands remain green, making winter a more dangerous time for Sudowoodo to be in the presence of foes.

Ken Sugimori notes that when given the guidelines for creating Sudowoodo by Gold and Silver's scenario designer, he was told to create "a Pokémon that blocks the roads". After developing many images as ideas, he discussed them with the scenario designer before selecting Sudowoodo's finished design.^[3]

Appearances

In the video games

Sudowoodo first appears in the video games Pokémon Gold and Silver as well as its remakes Pokémon Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. In it, it appears as a tree at first sight until it is alerted to the player's presence. It has since appeared in every main Pokémon title, most notably in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl where it was given a pre-evolution called Bonsly. Outside of the main series, Sudowoodo appears in Pokémon Channel, Pokémon Trozei!, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon titles, the Pokémon Ranger titles, and PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Sudowoodo appears as both an aspect of a Pokémon-themed area called "Poké Floats" as well as a collectible trophy.

In other media

In the anime, Sudowoodo first appeared in the 162^nd episode (Type Casting) of the original series. Two Pokémon researchers were arguing whether Sudowoodo was a Grass- or Rock-type. Sudowoodo's main role in the anime starts when Brock captures a Bonsly in the episode From Cradle to Save, while Ash, May, Max and himself are training at a ninja school in the Kanto Battle Frontier. Bonsly evolves into Sudowoodo to help free Brock and a Nuzleaf, defeating James's Carnivine in a battle. A shiny golden colored Sudowoodo appeared in an episode named All That Glitters is Not Golden. A boy named Keenan experimented on his Sudowoodo to make it strong against Water and it turned golden, which was disliked by the Sudowoodo.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga, a Sudowoodo disguises itself as a tree in the middle of Route 37, hiding from a Rhydon. Gold convinced Sudowoodo not to run away from its problems, and Sudowoodo went on to defeat Rhydon in hand-to-hand combat. It soon after joined Gold's team and participated in his friendly match against Silver, and later the Masked Man. A Sudowoodo is captured by Emerald at the Battle Frontier. In the Magical Pokémon Journey manga, Pikachu and Clefairy battle a Prince Sudowoodo of the Stone Kingdom because he has ordered his underlings to kidnap Princess Bellossom of the Flower Kingdom, as he intends to marry her. In Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys, Gold and Whitney battle a giant Sudowoodo which is blocking Route 36 in A Huge Mysterious Tree!!. After defeating it in battle, Gold captures it, and it becomes one of his party members.

Reception

IGN described Sudowoodo as a "fine example" of how Pokémon designs have become increasingly stranger as the series progressed.^[4] IGN wrote that Sudowoodo was "quite rare" in Gold and Silver.^[5] IGN's Pokémon Chick called Sudowoodo "odd (to say the least)". She added that it had the distinction of being the only pure Rock type at the time.^[6] while CVG called it "one of the coolest of the new Pokémon" introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver.^[7] Official Nintendo Magazine's Thomas East included Sudowoodo's name in a list of the five best Pokémon names because it makes him laugh.^[8] Prima Games described Sudowoodo's name as "silly".^[9] GamesRadar's Darryl Vassar wrote that "there are few Pokémon weirder than Sudowoodo".^[10] Game Informer and UGO Networks both included Sudowoodo on their own top lists of trees in video games; UGO specifically wrote that it was odd that no one in the game figured out that it was not a tree.^[11][12] Author Phillip Marcus described Sudowoodo as a "bizarre Rock tree".^[13]

References

External links

• Official Pokémon website
• Sudowoodo on Bulbapedia
• Sudowoodo at the Internet Movie Database