“ | Wanna see what destruction looks like? Here it is in human form! It's your boy Guzma! | „ |
~ Guzma's most popular line. |
“ | The hated boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up... Yeah. Big bad Guzma is here! | „ |
~ Guzma |
Guzma, also known as The Hated Boss, is the secondary antagonist of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon and a major antagonist of its remakes. He is a former victorious contestant of Alola's Island Challenge who, due to his desire to simply prove how strong he is and defeat other trainers, was denied a role as a Trial Captain. As a result of this, Guzma rounded up dozens of trainers who had previously failed the challenge and formed Team Skull in order to wreak havoc across the Alola region and get revenge on those who denied him his dream position. He specializes in Bug Type Pokémon.
In Japanese, he was voiced by Yasuyuki Kase in the anime and Tatsuhiro Kikuchi in Pokémon Masters. In English, he was voiced by Evan Maltby in the anime and Doug Erholtz in Pokémon Masters.
Biography[]
Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon[]
In the present day, Guzma first appears in Malie Garden along with a few of his grunts. In the garden, he taunts Professor Kukui by referring to the two of them as "fellow rejects who could never become captains" and states that there is no point in building a Pokémon League considering that he is already the strongest trainer around. However, Kukui rebuffs him by stating that he and Guzma are not the same because he never became a Captain because he chose to pursue other interests while Guzma simply couldn't do it. Kukui then asks the player to battle Guzma, who accepts the challenge after noticing the player's Z-Ring. After he is defeated, Guzma angrily leaves and states that he'll remember their encounter.
Later into the game, Guzma and his men kidnap a Yungoos that belongs to a child who lives in the Aether House, and dare the player to come and retrieve it from them. After the player makes their way through the run-down Po Town and Team Skull's base, Shady House, they find Guzma inside his throne room. Guzma then reveals that he had Team Skull steal every single piece of Buginium Z in Alola simply so other trainers couldn't use it. Guzma challenges the player to a rematch, but, just like before, he is defeated and he and his minions abandon their hideout and the player can obtain a Buginium Z. However, it is later revealed that the Yungoos' kidnapping was all a ruse so Plumeria and her grunts could kidnap Lillie and Nebby and bring them to the Aether Paradise.
After defeating Faba, the player and Hau realize that Guzma and Team Skull had been working with the Aether Foundation the whole time and that they will have to go through them in order to reach Lusamine's mansion. After fighting several Grunts, the player confronts Guzma, who has just defeated the reformed Gladion, meaning that he is even stronger than he was in their last encounter. Guzma and the player battle yet again, however, after he loses, Guzma allows the player to advance into the mansion. After Lusamine opens the Ultra Wormhole, Guzma returns to her aid and battles Hau while the player battles Lusamine and Gladion battles a Nihilego. No matter who wins the battle, Guzma and Lusamine enter the Ultra Wormhole to get to Ultra Space.
After the player and Lillie use the power of the Legendary Pokémon (Solgaleo in Sun and Lunala in Moon) to travel to Ultra Space, they encounter Guzma. Guzma explains to the player and Lillie that he had tried to catch a Nihilego while in the dimension, but the creature possessed him instead, making him feel fear for the first time in his life. Guzma also calls the player and Lillie stupid for entering Ultra Space in order to bring back Lusamine, stating that she has become completely insane and obsessed with the Ultra Beasts.
Once Lusamine is defeated and everyone returns to the real world, Guzma helps take her to a hospital. After the player becomes the Champion, Guzma, realizing how pointless Team Skull is, disbands it and moves back into his parents' house on Route 2. If visited, Guzma will challenge the player to a battle on Hau'oli City's beachfront. Once defeated here, Kahuna Hala reprimands Guzma for his inability to recognize his opponent's strength and promises to make a fine trainer out of him. In Pokémon Moon only, Guzma becomes a recurring character in the Battle Tree.
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon[]
Although the story largely remains the same, instead of being dragged into Ultra Space with Lusamine, an unconscious Guzma and her and tossed out, with Necrozma following them. When the player defeats the beast and Guzma is restored, Guzma reflects on working together with others and disbands Team Skull in the game credits. He also helps the player take down Team Rainbow Rocket in the post-game, helping the player advance forward by holding back some grunts. As well as returning in the Battle Tree for Pokémon Ultra Moon, he is seen with Plumeria near her trailer on Route 13 (saying how he promises to protect the people he cares for even without being a Trial Captain), and being a possible foe for Title Defense battles.
Pokémon Masters[]
Guzma is an obtainable sync pair in Pokémon Masters, who is obtainable in the event Team Skull Crash Course along with Plumeria. He is a five-star sync pair, using his signature Golisopod in a Bug type sync pair. In the event, he, along with Plumeria and Drake, help Liza grow stronger.
Later on, Guzma obtained another sync pair in the "costume event" Poké War Games, where he uses a Buzzwole that represents the Fighting type as a five-star sync pair.
As for storyline appearances, Guzma makes his first appearance within the Alola-themed chapter, appearing alongside the rest of Team Skull to come to aid Lusamine and her allies against the team-based treachery of the Aether Foundation and Team Rocket, wanting to honor their promise to the team they once worked with. After making quick work of the grunts attack, Guzma interrogates a member of Team Aether's ranks on how to shut down their stolen technology, succeeding in leaking this information after threatening to attack them himself. Following his grunts tracking down the devices, they successfully manage to force the devices to shut down their operations, resulting in the twin teams' plans being foiled.
Pokémon Adventures[]
Guzma debuts in the Sun & Moon chapter. He is first seen berating a pair of Grunts after their attempt to skip out on paying Sun for his part-time job ended in their defeat. He orders the Grunts to find Sun so that he can teach him a lesson personally.
Later, Guzma travels to a festival being held at Iki Town. There, he finds the pair of Grunts hosting a Slowpoke Tail stand and proceeds to knock Grunt A unconscious for not informing him that Sun was at the festival. After claiming that Grunt A was injured in an accident, Guzma proceeds to take the Grunt's place in the festival's tournament.
In the first battle of the second round of the tournament, Guzma faces off against Sun. Through the use of tactics, Guzma's Masquerain easily defeats Sun's En, forcing him to switch for Dollar. After Dollar defeats Masquerain, Guzma sends out his Golisopod, which proves to be a powerful opponent. When Golisopod accidentally dirties the coin on Dollar's head with its claws, Dollar gets angry, giving it the strength to defeat Golisopod and allow Sun to move on to the final round. Angered, Guzma flies into a rage and begins knocking his head onto the ground before Grunt A stops him. Now bleeding due to the shards of his broken sunglasses getting embedded into his face, Guzma congratulates his Pokémon for their hard work. As Guzma and the Grunts leave, they are stopped by Olivia, who tells Guzma that as a participant of the tournament, he must stay and watch the other battles. Guzma refuses and tells Olivia that only one person is allowed to give him commands.
In PASM08, Guzma travels to the Ruins of Conflict, where he encounters Gladion. Guzma praises Gladion's skills at the tournament and offers him a job as an Enforcer for Team Skull. To Guzma's surprise, Gladion immediately accepts, but wishes to know about the person Guzma mentioned when he left during the tournament. Guzma feigns ignorance about his earlier statement and tells Gladion to follow him to Team Skull's hideout.
Later, Po Town is infiltrated by five of Alola's Trial Captains and Hau. Overhearing the commotion the group made when they confronted his Grunts, Guzma revealed himself demanding to know why his base was being intruded. The Captains' group stated that they only wished to discuss something with Team Skull's Boss. Guzma accepted, but stated that they had to make it to him first. As he says this, a Pheromosa, Celesteela, and Guzzlord appear to attack the Captains' group.
The three Ultra Beasts proceed to rampage, attacking anything in sight. As the Captains and Hau battled the three, Sun arrived, only to get caught up in the battle. Surprised to see that the Captains' Pokémon survived the battle, Guzma revealed he was in possession of a Cosmog, which he has open two Ultra Wormholes in order to summon more Ultra Beasts. The beasts continue rampaging with no regard for friend or foe, attacking even the Grunts. The Grunts beg Guzma to get the beasts to stop, but Guzma states that he has no control over them and they will just continue to destroy everything on their own.
Gladion then arrives and demands that Guzma reveal who gave him the Cosmog and Ultra Beasts. Guzma, annoyed at the accusation that someone is controlling him, attacks Gladion with Golisopod, only for the boy to dodge it. When Guzma asks to know why Gladion agreed to join Team Skull, he reveals that his true goal is to destroy the Ultra Beasts.
Anime[]
Guzma debuted in "The Dealer of the Destruction!". where he watched from Team Skull's base at the Shady House as Professor Kukui announced the Alola League on TV. The next day, he, Plumeria, and Team Skull Grunts Tupp, Zipp, and Rapp arrived on Melemele Island. There, he met Team Rocket and quickly defeated them. Guzma later arrived at the Pokémon School and confronted Professor Kukui, before being challenged to a battle by Ash, which he accepted.
Guzma battled Ash's Pikachu with his Golisopod, but the battle ended prematurely after Golisopod returned to its Poké Ball due to Emergency Exit. Afterwards, he swore that he would destroy the Alola League himself before leaving with his allies. Later, Guzma went to his room at the Shady House and punched the wall after recalling Professor Kukui asking him if he was running away from a challenge, as he had done in the past with the island challenge and island kahunas.
In League Offenders and Defenders!, Guzma and Plumeria intervened in a confrontation Tupp, Rapp, and Zipp were having with Ash and his friends at Manalo Stadium. He was about to battle Ash's group, but Professor Kukui and Hala arrived. Guzma confronted Professor Kukui and revealed that he had enrolled as a contestant in the Manalo Conference; furthermore, he announced his intention to destroy Professor Kukui's dreams by becoming Champion and then ensuring another Pokémon League would never take place in Alola.
After Guzma and his teammates left, Hala explained that in the past, both Guzma and Kukui were his apprentices, but Guzma grew disillusioned with Hala's teachings and rejected them both, instead resolving to become strong on his own without the need for a Z-Ring or Z-Crystals. Later, Guzma and Plumeria were among the Trainers gathered at the party commemorating the Manalo Conference's opening. He grew angry upon seeing the celebratory mood of Professor Kukui and the other attendees, drawing Plumeria's concern.
In Battle Royal 151!, Guzma competed in the Manalo Conference with his Scizor. He was able to progress to the Top 16, although Plumeria and the other participating Team Skull Grunts were defeated. The match-ups revealed that he would be battling Ilima. In Battling Besties!, Guzma went up against Ilima, using his Scizor to battle Ilima's Kangaskhan. Despite Ilima Mega Evolving Kangaskhan, Scizor was able to defeat its opponent by positioning itself so that Kangaskhan's baby was always in the middle, endangering its well-being and causing the mother to hesitate often enough to be defeated. This allowed Guzma to advance to the second round.
In The Battlefield of Truth and Love!, it was revealed that Lana would be Guzma's opponent in the second round. In The Road to The Semifinals!, Guzma and Lana began their battle, with Guzma using Golisopod against Lana's Primarina. With his ruthless tactics, Guzma was able to defeat Lana with relative ease and advance to the semifinals. The match-ups revealed that he would battling Ash in the semifinals. In The Final Four!, Guzma assured his Grunts that he would destroy the entire League and brushed off Plumeria's concerns about him facing Ash.
Right after, in Getting Down to The Ire!, Guzma went up against Ash, using his Scizor to battle his Torracat. He quickly recalled Scizor in favor of using Golisopod, only for Golisopod to activate Emergency Exit during the match and send Scizor out in its place, resulting in it being quickly defeated by Fire Blast. Angered by Golisopod's cowardice, Guzma sent it out again and berated it on having made Scizor lose.
The battle continued in The Wisdom Not to Run!, during which Guzma finally started to realize his own cowardice through defeating only weak opponents and running away from battles against strong ones. Despite the strength of Ash's Pikachu, Golisopod still wanted to continue battling, but the battle ultimately led to Guzma's loss. The audience applauded for the great battle and Kukui hoped to see Guzma participating next year as well, but Guzma considered his reputation ruined and was ready to disband Team Skull. However, Plumeria and the Team Skull Grunts were so fired up by the battle that they wanted stay by his side and learn to battle as well as he did.
Guzma reappeared in a flashback in Final Rivals!.
In Thank You, Alola! The Journey Continues!, Guzma and Golisopod were seen training with his underlings as Plumeria looked on.
Personality[]
Over much of the game, Guzma appears as a stark contrast to the typical evil leader characters found in the Pokémon Universe. Unlike the other leaders before him, Guzma has an extremely laid-back and unprofessional personality, signified by his typical slouching and squatting postures. Guzma often treats most situations with a lack of seriousness, often blowing them off completely or trying to create his own silver lining.
Despite his easygoing nature, Guzma tends to express a much darker side to himself. After being defeated, Guzma beats himself up for his failures, usually by shouting "GUZMA! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" while also ruffling his hair. Guzma also desperately tries to assure himself as the strongest trainer in all of Alola, seemingly to fill his own personal void which was possibly created by his denial of being a Trial Captain. If the player looks hard enough, they can also find hints that Guzma had a seemingly abusive relationship with his father and that he ran away from home, an action which most likely served as his motivation for his Social Darwinism. The lack of recognition from his parents also explains his loyalty towards Lusamine, as she's the only adult over forty who acknowledges him. Despite his dislike for Alola's traditions, he deeply cares for his homeland. He also deeply cares for his grunts and consider them as his family.
Quotes[]
“ | Here we are, Kukui... Fellow rejects who never could become captains. We've got all these moldy old traditions in Alola — the kahunas, the captains... It’s about time we cut out all that silly garbage and make something new for ourselves. Trust me, I get that. Don't get me wrong, though, Kukui. We've got no need for a Pokémon League. After all, everyone already knows who the strongest Trainer is on these islands! | „ |
~ Guzma to Professor Kukui. |
“ | Watch closely, Kukui. Someday I'm gonna destroy you. But first, I'll destroy everything you care about! | „ |
~ Guzma to Kukui. |
“ | I don't really get you, kid, but at least this is a change of pace. It's not every day someone comes straight to me for a beating! | „ |
~ Guzma to the Player. |
“ | And you came all the way here just for that, huh? Can't you just watch out for your own Pokémon and stay out of other people's business?! You're one messed up kid! You wanna know what I do when some machine messes up? The first thing I do is give it a nice hard smack! I mean, most of the time I smash it to pieces, but hey, what can you do? Now let's see if I can't fix you! | „ |
~ Guzma before his second fight. |
“ | Guzma!!! What is wrong with you?! Now's the time for your vaunted team to let loose and destroy everything! | „ |
~ Guzma after being defeated. |
“ | I'm gonna beat you down one of these days! No matter whose help I need to do it... | „ |
~ Guzma to the player. |
“ | Y'ALL ARE STUPID! | „ |
~ Guzma to Lillie and the Player. |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Pokémon[]
Trivia[]
- All of Guzma's Pokémon were caught in Ultra Balls.
- Golisopod is stated and shown to be Guzma's favorite Pokémon, as he starts every battle with it.
- Up until fighting him in the Battle Tree (and per his offensive personality), all of Guzma's Pokémon's attacks do physical damage, with the only exception being his Masquerain, who uses only special attacks. Also, none of his Pokémon uses items until Battle Tree either.
- Guzma, like the rest of Team Skull, was created by GameFreak in an effort to parody themselves, as Guzma's personality, appearance, motivations, Pokémon type preference, goals and character arc were radically different from that of the generic evil team leaders from other Pokémon games.
- Guzma is the first leader of an "Evil Team" to not be the main antagonist of a game.
- In the anime he is the same age as Professor Kakui.
- Guzma has a soft spot for fellow outcasts; hence why he formed Team Skull.
- While not stated, Guzma is allowed to make the abandoned town Team Skull's base thanks to the generosity of the Kahuna working as a police officer.
[]
Villains | ||
Team Rocket Team Aqua Team Magma Team Galactic Team Plasma Team Flare Team Skull Aether Foundation Team Yell Macro Cosmos Elite Four Others See Also |