Zippo

Zippo ジッポ Zippo

Zippo

Debuts in A Friend in Deed Caught at Kanto Evolves in Prior to A Parent Trapped! Gender Unknown Ability Unknown Current location With Ritchie

→ This Pokémon spent less than 143 episodes as Charmander.

Voice actor Japanese English As Charmander Yūji Ueda Michael Haigney As Charmeleon Yūji Ueda Eric Stuart

Zippo, (Japanese: ジッポ Zippo, ヒロシのリザード Hiroshi's Lizardo) Zippo was the first Pokémon introduced on Ritchie's team. It first appeared in A Friend in Deed.

In the anime

When Ritchie was first introduced, Zippo was a Charmander, and would, soon after his introduction, face Ash's Charizard in the Indigo Plateau Conference. Ritchie switched out Zippo during the battle (which was counted as losing the round).

Eventually, by the next time Ash and Ritchie met, in the Whirl Islands, Zippo had evolved into a Charmeleon. Unlike how Ash's Charizard was when it was at the same stage in its development, it was still very obedient to Ritchie.

Since it was mentioned in Journey to the Starting Line that Ash starting with his own Pikachu in the first episode was a special case, there are theories that Zippo may have been Ritchie's starter Pokémon.

Moves used

Using Flamethrower	Move First Used In Slash A Friend in Deed Flamethrower A Friend in Deed Tackle × Friend and Foe Alike Fire Spin Oaknapped
An × shows that the move cannot be legitimately known by this Pokémon in the games.
A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

In the manga

Charley in the Electric Tale of Pikachu

In the manga series The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Zippo competes against Ash's Charizard in the Indigo Plateau Conference in the chapter The Indigo Finals and is defeated and heavily wounded during the battle. Unlike in the anime, however, Zippo has already evolved into a Charizard by this point.

Ritchie running to his heavily wounded Charley

In the original Japanese version, it retains its nickname of Zippo, however, in the VIZ Media English translation, it is renamed to Charley.

Trivia

• Zippo was named after a brand of a lighter of the same name.
  • Zippo's name also belonged to a highly intelligent Troodon from the Dinotopia franchise.

Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Charmander and Charmeleon.

Ritchie's Pokémon
On hand:	Zippo	Sparky	Happy	Cruise	Rose
Status unknown:	Spearow	Tentacool
Borrowed:	Ponyta

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.