Opal

Opal ポプラ Poplar
"The master of a fantastic theater!"
Artwork from Sword and Shield by take
Age	88
Gender	Female
Eye color	Blue
Hair color	White
Hometown	Ballonlea
Region	Galar
Relatives	Unnamed mother
Trainer class	Gym Leader Pokémon Trainer
Generation	VIII
Games	Sword and Shield
Leader of	Ballonlea Stadium
Badge	Fairy Badge
Specializes in	Fairy types
Game animation debut	Sky
English voice actor	Laura Post
Japanese voice actor	Ayumi Nagao
Animated debut	The Tale of You and Glimwood Tangle!
English voice actor	Marin M. Miller
Japanese voice actor	Yoshino Ohtori

Opal (Japanese: ポプラ Poplar) is the Gym Leader of Ballonlea's Gym, known officially as Ballonlea Stadium. She specializes in Fairy-type Pokémon. She gives the Fairy Badge to Trainers who defeat her. During the events of Pokémon Sword and Shield, she chooses Bede as her successor and passes her Gym Leader title on to him.

In the games

Opal is designated the fifth Gym Leader Galarian Trainers face in their Gym Challenge. Opal became the Ballonlea Gym Leader at the age of 18, inheriting the position from her mother, and she has held it for 70 years. As revealed in The Isle of Armor, 50 years prior to the events of Pokémon Sword and Shield, she battled against Mustard for the title of Galar League Champion, but was defeated, despite her Fairy-type Pokémon having a type advantage over Mustard's Fighting types. Opal is also known by her nickname, "wizard", due to her supposed ability to predict her opponents' moves in battle. Due to her old age by the time of Sword and Shield, her Gym mission doubles as an audition to seek a successor for herself.

Opal is first seen at Motostoke Stadium for the Gym Challenge's opening ceremony. She later appears on Route 6, watching as the player and Hop battle a pair of Team Yell Grunts, and at Stow-on-Side to observe the player's battle with Hop. After being defeated in a Gym battle, she offers to escort the player to Hammerlocke so that they can get to their next Gym sooner. In Hammerlocke, she notices Bede and instantly sees him as a worthy successor, taking him with her back to Ballonlea. By the time of the Champion Cup in Wyndon, Opal has officially passed her mantle as a Fairy-type Gym Leader to Bede, although she still occasionally shows up at the Gym to give him advice. Due to her retirement, Opal does not participate in the post-game Champion tournaments. She does, however, participate in the Galarian Star Tournament.

League Cards

This is a transcript of the back of Opal's League Cards in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Normal League Card

"Opal is the oldest Gym Leader in the Galar region. She took over for her mother 70 years ago and has kept the position since. However, she feels that her own values have reached their limits, and thus she is currently looking for a worthy successor. She claims that she gives deliberately tricky quizzes because people reveal their true colors when in a pinch, but many speculate that in reality, she does it out of pure spite."

Rare League Card

"Opal has thrust the duties of Gym Leader onto Bede, who had his Gym Challenger status revoked. That being said, she still shows up at the Gym Stadium every day, giving unsolicited advice, coming up with new quiz questions, and practicing various performances. What is this "pink" she insisted others show her? Maybe a clue lies in a comment she made during an old interview. "Keep thinking about the right answer, and eventually you'll create the right answer.""

Pokémon

Opal keeps her Pokémon in Ultra Balls.

Pokémon Sword and Shield

Opal will Gigantamax her Vanilla Cream, Strawberry Sweet Alcremie at the first opportunity.

Gym battle

Gym Leader Opal Ballonlea Stadium Sword and Shield Reward: $6,080

Types: Poison Fairy Ability: Levitate Held item: None Weezing♀ Lv.36 Sludge Poison Special   --       Fairy Wind Fairy Special   --       Tackle Normal Physical   --       Curse Unknown Status   --       Types: Steel Fairy Ability: Intimidate Held item: None Mawile♀ Lv.36 Draining Kiss Fairy Special   --       Crunch Dark Physical   --       Iron Defense Steel Status   --       Astonish Ghost Physical   --       Types: Fairy Flying Ability: Hustle Held item: None Togekiss♀ Lv.37 Air Slash Flying Special   --       Draining Kiss Fairy Special   --       Ancient Power Rock Special   --       Curse Unknown Status   --       Type: Fairy Unknown Ability: Sweet Veil Held item: None Alcremie♀ Lv.38 Draining Kiss Fairy Special   --       Acid Armor Poison Status   --       Sweet Kiss Fairy Status   --       Curse Unknown Status   --

Galarian Star Tournament

Pokémon Trainer Opal Wyndon Stadium Sword and Shield Reward: $11,200

Types: Poison Fairy Ability: Levitate Held item: None Weezing♀ Lv.68 Venoshock Poison Special   --       Protect Normal Status   --       Strange Steam Fairy Special   --       Toxic Poison Status   --       Types: Fairy Flying Ability: Hustle Held item: None Togekiss♀ Lv.69 Air Slash Flying Special   --       Dazzling Gleam Fairy Special   --       Reflect Psychic Status   --       Mystical Fire Fire Special   --       Type: Fairy Unknown Ability: Sweet Veil Held item: None Alcremie♀ Lv.70 Draining Kiss Fairy Special   --       Acid Armor Poison Status   --       Psychic Psychic Special   --       Decorate Fairy Status   --

Quotes

Main article: Opal/Quotes

Artwork

Concept art from Sword and Shield

Sprites

Icon from the Galarian Star Tournament menu

League Cards

Opal's League Card in Sword and Shield	Opal's rare League Card in Sword and Shield

In the anime

Opal in the anime

Main series

Opal first appeared in The Tale of You and Glimwood Tangle!, where she encountered Ash and Goh in Ballonlea and challenged them to a series of quizzes. In the process, Opal made them and their Pokémon wear pink clothes for each wrong answer they got. As Chloe reunited with the group, Opal revealed that she had asked the quizzes to keep the boys from recklessly searching for Chloe and let her come to them on her own.

She reappeared again in The Sweet Taste of Battle!, where she hosted a cake-decorating contest dubbed the All-Alcremie Decoration Challenge at the Ballonlea Stadium, inviting Ash, Goh, Chloe, Raihan, and Leon to participate. She loaned each contestant one of her Alcremie to provide them cream. After the cakes had been decorated, Opal tasted each of them to determine the winner, ultimately choosing Ash's cake as the winner. Unexpectedly, she then challenged Ash to a battle. During the battle, Opal Gigantamaxed her Alcremie and had her use G-Max Finale on Ash's Pikachu. Eating all the cream created by the G-Max Move caused Pikachu to grow giant and fat, making him too full to continue battling, so the match was called off. Afterwards, Opal joined the contestants in eating all the cakes they had decorated.

Pokémon

This listing is of Opal's known Pokémon in the anime:

Alcremie ↔ Gigantamax Alcremie ♀

Debut	The Sweet Taste of Battle!
Voice actors
Japanese
English	Ryan Bartley

Opal sent this Ruby Cream Alcremie out to battle Ash's Pikachu. After a while, Opal Gigantamaxed her and had her use G-Max Finale on Pikachu. This caused Pikachu to grow giant and fat from eating the immense amounts of cream the G-Max Move created, so the battle had to be called off.

Alcremie's known moves are Attract and Dazzling Gleam.
As a Gigantamax Alcremie, she can use G-Max Finale.

Alcremie (multiple) ♀

Debut	The Sweet Taste of Battle!
Voice actors
Japanese
English	Ryan Bartley

Opal owns several Alcremie that she lent to the participants of the All-Alcremie Decoration Challenge.

None of Alcremie's moves are known.

Voice actors

Language Voice actor Japanese 鳳芳野 Yoshino Ohtori English Marin M. Miller Italian Elisabetta Cesone Polish Barbara Zielińska Brazilian Portuguese Bia Barros Spanish Latin America Yolanda Vidal Spain Isabel Donate

Pokémon: Twilight Wings

Opal in Pokémon: Twilight Wings

Opal appeared in Sky, where she gave her thoughts about Leon in an interview.

Opal reappeared in The Gathering of Stars, where she was observing Bede's performance while reminiscing about her younger days after having received an invitation letter for the Galarian Star Tournament. She was later seen at Wyndon Stadium, walking out onto the field for the tournament's opening ceremony.

Voice actors

Language Voice actor Japanese 長尾歩 Ayumi Nagao English Laura Post

GOTCHA!

Opal briefly appeared in GOTCHA!.

In the manga

Opal in Pokémon Adventures

Pokémon Adventures

Opal debuted in Chomp!! Defeat Drednaw. She, along with various other Gym Leaders, was first seen reacting to the news that Leon had endorsed two Trainers for the Gym Challenge. In Glittering!! The Tapestry in the Vault, Opal arrived in Hammerlocke, where she met Henry Sword and Casey Shield, the Trainers Leon endorsed. After introducing herself, Opal briefly traveled with them to Stow-on-Side before returning to Ballonlea.

In Shocking!! Reunion in the Forest, Henry arrived at Ballonlea Stadium to challenge the Gym, but was stopped by Opal, who refused to let him on the field until he answered her quiz. After giving his answer, Henry was told to wait for his turn while Opal battled Hop. Once the battle was over, Opal took on Henry, during which she made an announcement that she planned on retiring as Gym Leader after the Gym Challenge had ended. Henry eventually won the battle, he failed to meet Opal's expectations as a successor for her Gym. In PASS18, she defeated Casey in a Gym battle, eliminating the latter from the Gym Challenge.

In PASS20, Opal met with Bede at Ballonlea Stadium. Despite rejecting an earlier invitation, Bede decided to take Opal's offer to take over the title of Gym Leader. Opal quickly took a liking to Bede and accepted him as her successor. While Bede went through training, Opal questioned why Rose disqualified the boy from the Gym Challenge and decided to speak with the other Gym Leaders about the matter.

In PASS25, the Galar Gym Leaders agreed to gather at Rose Tower to find out whether or not Rose intended on bringing harm to the region. Opal and Bede arrived first, but were stopped by Oleana. While Oleana kept the Gym Leaders busy, Bede, Henry, Casey, Hop, and Marnie headed up the elevator to meet with Rose, only to learn he wasn't in the building. Appearing on a video screen, Rose revealed that he would be restarting the Darkest Day in order to ensure Galar has a future. Power Spot lights then began appearing all over Galar, causing Pokémon to begin Dynamaxing at random. Opal traveled to the Hammerlocke Energy Plant with the others, but decided to head back to Ballonlea to help deal with the rampaging Dynamax Pokémon.

In PASS29, Macro Cosmos employees were dispatched to deal with the Dynamax Pokémon, allowing Opal's group to provide backup for the others against Eternatus. By the time they arrived, Opal's group found Eternatus had fled, leaving those who battled it unconscious and covered in poison. The injured were taken to a hospital to recover.

Pokémon

Alcremie ↔ Gigantamax Alcremie ♀

Debut	Rising!! Opal of Ballonlea

Alcremie is Opal's first known Pokémon. She was first used in Opal's Gym battle against Henry, where she bombarded his Sirfetch'd, Lancelot, with a barrage of high-calorie cream missiles. After surviving Alcremie's attacks, Lancelot defeated her with a Max Steelspike boosted by an Expert Belt.

Alcremie's only known move is Draining Kiss*.
As a Gigantamax Alcremie, she can use G-Max Finale.

Weezing

Debut	Rising!! Opal of Ballonlea

Galarian Weezing is Opal's second known Pokémon. It was first used to battle Henry's Sirfetch'd, Lancelot, in a Gym battle, but was defeated.

Weezing's only known move is Sludge Bomb.

Togekiss

Debut	Rising!! Opal of Ballonlea

Togekiss is Opal's third known Pokémon. It was first used to battle Henry's Gurdurr, Steeler, in a Gym battle, but was quickly defeated.

Togekiss's only known move is Double-Edge.

In the TCG

Full Art print of Opal

Main article: Opal (Vivid Voltage 158)

Opal was introduced as a Supporter card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Sword & Shield Series (the Japanese Sword & Shield Era). It was first released in the Japanese Legendary Heartbeat subset and the English Vivid Voltage expansion, with artwork by take. It was also released as a Full Art card and Secret card in the same Japanese and English expansions, with artwork by Naoki Saito. It allows the player to flip two coins then search their deck for as many heads as they flipped and put them in their hand, before shuffling their deck.

Trivia

• Opal was designed by take.

Icon of HIJIKI OKA, Opal's sponsor

• Opal's uniform number is "910", which can be read in Japanese as goroawase for キュート kyūto, meaning "cute".
• Opal is the only Galar Gym Leader to not appear on the Isle of Armor.
  • She is also the only Galar Gym Leader to not be rematched in single battles.
• The in-game model of Opal has the logo of HIJIKI OKA printed on her uniform, similar to those of Ballonlea Stadium Gym Trainers and Gym Leader Bede. However, it is rarely visible during actual gameplay.
• Opal has failed both Leon and Sonia for the audition of Gym Leader. Leon only got one answer correct, while Sonia answered all three questions correctly. Opal noted that while both were talented Trainers, Leon was hard to read, and Sonia gave up a little too quickly.

Names

Language	Name	Origin
Japanese	ポプラ Popura	From poplar
English	Opal	From poplar and opal (a gemstone associated with various superstitions)
German	Papella	From Pappel (poplar)
Spanish, French	Sally	From Salicaceae (family that contains the poplar genus)
Italian	Poppy	From pioppo (poplar)
Korean	포플러 Popeulleo	From her Japanese name
Chinese (Mandarin)	波普菈 Bōpǔlā	Transcription of her Japanese name
Chinese (Cantonese)	波普菈 Bōpóulaahp
Brazilian Portuguese	Alba	From álamo (poplar) and Populus alba (scientific name of white poplar)

Related articles

Gym Leaders of the Galar region
Turffield Stadium Milo	Hulbury Stadium Nessa	Motostoke Stadium Kabu	Stow-on-Side Stadium Bea Allister
Ballonlea Stadium Opal Bede	Circhester Stadium Gordie Melony	Spikemuth Gym Piers Marnie	Hammerlocke Stadium Raihan

This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.