Mr. Parker
Mr. Parker (Japanese: ナガイ Nagai) is a character of the day who appeared in The Superhero Secret.
Mr. Parker owns and operates a toy store located in a town somewhere between the Charicific Valley and Azalea Town, and was best known by his superhero pseudonym Gligarman (Japanese: グライガーマン Gligerman) before he retired.
The character of Gligarman was invented by Mr. Parker so he could build up business for his shop. By acting as Gligarman, and then creating figurines, toys, and other merchandise items he was able to sell these to the people living in his town who had grown fond of their local superhero. To help fight crime, Mr. Parker (as Gligarman) used his Pokémon Gligar and his "Gligar Cycle", a type of motorcycle. Reminiscent of other, fictional superheroes, Gligarman used a secret hideout—the Gligarcave—hidden under his mansion. Although once extremely in shape, Gligarman's age had caught up with him and he had become noticeably more tubby. This led to difficulties in acting as Gligarman.
Mr. Parker was first shown in his Gligarman costume and, without revealing his true identity, he helped to save Togepi from Team Rocket. Ash and friends later encountered him in his toy shop, and Mr. Parker had to try to hide his identity. Togepi's liking for the shop owner hinted that they had encountered him previously, and Mr. Parker almost gave the game away by using Misty's name, despite Misty never mentioning it to Mr. Parker. After some probing questions, Mr. Parker and his daughter, Latoya confessed and took the trio for a visit in their mansion. Here, it was revealed that Mr. Parker's declining health was forcing him to retire. He had Ash in mind as his replacement, but, following another intervention by Team Rocket, a new masked figure saved the day: Gligirl, who is actually Latoya. The town had a new hero now, and Gligarman was able to hang up his cape and return to his ordinary life as Mr. Parker.
Pokémon
| Debut | The Superhero Secret |
|---|---|
| Voice actors | |
| Japanese | Koichi Sakaguchi |
| English | Koichi Sakaguchi |
Mr. Parker's Gligar was his sidekick when he is Gligarman and first appeared to Ash and his friends in the forest, jumping from tree to tree before disappearing. It then appeared with Gligarman when Team Rocket had captured Ash and his friends. It saved Misty's Togepi that was stolen from here before attacking Jessie and sending Team Rocket running off in pain. It later appeared in "the Gligarcave", welcoming Ash and his friends including Mr. Parker's daughter Latoya. Suddenly, they found Team Rocket in the building, capturing the staff with James and Meowth dressed up as "the Metapod Men". They quickly went upstairs and confronted Team Rocket and Gligar was able to stop James, but Jessie and Meowth ran off to their Spinarak mecha.
After a new superhero known as "Gligirl" appeared (a new disguise of Mr. Parker's daughter Latoya), she ordered Gligar to free Mr. Parker, Ash and Pikachu which it successfully did and with the help of Pikachu were able to send Team Rocket blasting off. In the end, Latoya and Mr. Parker had a small argument over who would be the owner of Gligar before saying goodbye to Ash and his friends.
Gligar's known moves are Poison Sting and Swift.
Voice actors
| Language | Voice actor | |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | 屋良有作 Yūsaku Yara | |
| English | Eric Stuart | |
| Arabic | إسماعيل نعنوع Ismail Nanoua | |
| Finnish | Pasi Ruohonen | |
| European French | Daniel Nicodème | |
| Hebrew | יורם יוספסברג Yoram Yosephsberg | |
| Italian | Stefano Albertini (Mediaset dub) Matteo Zanotti (TPCi dub) | |
| Polish | Krzysztof Zakrzewski | |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Jonas Mello | |
| European Spanish | Carlos Ysbert | |
Trivia
- Although Gligar itself in the episode (and in all successive appearances of the species in the animated series) is depicted as a shade of pinkish-purple, matching that of its then-contemporary in-game appearance in Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, as well as that used in all core series games beginning with Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Gligarman's costume is colored a cooler purple similar to that of Gligar's Generation II official art and in-game appearance from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire to Pokémon Platinum.
- Gligarman is a parody of Batman. His real name, Mr. Parker, may reference Peter Parker (the secret identity of the superhero Spider-Man).
- Gligarman is likely also a parody of the Kamen Rider series. The show's titular Kamen Riders are known for doing extravagant poses, riding motorcycles, and having a signature move known as the "Rider Kick" (which is most directly parodied with Gligarman's Gligar Kick).
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This article is part of Project COD, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each one-time character of the Pokémon animated series. |
