‘Pokemon Sun’ And ‘Moon’: Gym Leader Names Revealed, Type Speculation

A lot of information about Pokemon’s much-anticipated seventh generation was revealed in the English and Japanese trailers for Pokemon Sun and Moon dropped on Tuesday, but did you know that if you search the backgrounds of the scenes flashing by in the trailers, you can spot eight silhouettes and four names that very well may correspond to the game’s eight Pokemon gym leaders? Verlisify, a YouTuber who specializes in Pokemon-themed content, was the first to point out the Pokemon gym leader name easter egg, which appears in the Japanese Pokemon Sun and Moon trailer, and the news has been pretty much completely overlooked by everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=2r0_F-_ClcQ

Let’s take a look at the four Pokemon gym leader names and what they can tell us, as well as what types of gyms we can expect in Pokemon Sun and Moon after seeing the trailer.

Pokemon Sun and Moon Gym Leader Names

During the Japanese trailer (which is embedded above), there is a scene in which the Japanese boy is introduced in a classroom at his new school. One of the shots in that scene shows the boy standing with his back to the front wall of the classroom, and on the wall can be seen eight partial silhouettes.

Given that each of the six existing Pokemon main series game generations has included eight gym leaders, it seems highly likely that the same will be the case for Pokemon Sun and Moon. Considering that fact in addition to the fact that Pokemon loves to include easter eggs that relate to the games in their trailers, it seems completely realistic that the silhouettes are those of Pokemon Sun and Moon’s eight gym leaders.

Some of the visible silhouettes have name cards next to them. It can be assumed that the visible names belong to the Pokemon gym leaders they are next to. Namely, the first, third, fifth, and seventh ones in the row look to be named Caitlin, Pablo, Hoku, and Ed, respectively. The names certainly sound like ones Pokemon would give their games’ gym leaders, as they are all simple and easy to pronounce, and the ethnicities of the names even correspond to Pokemon’s four biggest markets: America (Caitlyn), Japan (Hoku), Europe (Ed), and Latin America (Pablo).

Japanese Trailer for POKÉMON SUN AND MOON Might Make You Cry: https://t.co/rNZDnYNixo pic.twitter.com/MXuGennWuV

— ComicBook NOW! (@ComicBookNOW) May 11, 2016

Admittedly, the Hawaiian boy the main Japanese boy befriends near the end of the trailer says his name is Hoku as well, which means there is a chance the names on the classroom wall are nothing more than student names. Especially because of the presence of eight silhouettes, though, it seems more likely Pokemon is trying to clue us in to the gym leaders in Pokemon Sun and Moon.

Pokemon Sun and Moon Gym Leader Types

Using popular speculations expressed by YouTube’s Pokemon content creators combined with some information we learned from the Pokemon Sun and Moon trailers, here is a list of eight likely types for the eight Pokemon gyms that will appear in the games.

1. Ground Type — Pokemon main series games have often used rock-type gyms first. Facing a lot of tough rock-type Pokemon so early in the game is a great way to introduce new players to Pokemon’s signature system of type weaknesses and resistances, since rock is either weak to or super-effective against all three starter types – weak to water and grass, and strong against fire Pokemon. The same is true for ground, which makes it an attractive type for Pokemon to assign to Pokemon Sun and Moon’s first gym. Plus, ground has only served as the type for one gym in the entire series (the fifth gym from generation five’s Unova) whereas rock type has been used in four of the six Pokemon video game generations (including three times as the first gym’s type), so it is probable Pokemon will switch it out for ground this time around.
2. Fire Type — Many YouTubers who have speculated about Pokemon Sun and Moon gym types have guessed that fire type will be included. This is because fire seems to go hand-in-hand with the “Sun” theme of one game. In addition, points out Pokemon YouTuber Birdkeeper Toby in his video on the subject, a badge case displaying several badges from Kanto (the region that appeared in Pokemon’s sixth generation) along with several never-before-seen badges was shown off by a trainer. One of them was a fire badge, and Pokemon has not been one to include insignificant details like that in any of its content, which is why a fire type Pokemon gym is probably on the horizon. As for why it is the second gym specifically, Pokemon likes to carry over the introduction of its strengths and weaknesses system over to its second gym. Fire Pokemon are weak to, resistant to, or super-effective against all three starter Pokemon types (strong against grass, weak to water, and resistant to other fire types).
3. Water Type — Water is another of the unseen badges shown off by the Pokemon trainer in the anime, and it also has some varied effectiveness against the three starter Pokemon types, so it is interchangeable with fire as the second or third gym time in Pokemon Sun and Moon. To strengthen the idea that a water gym will be in the games, many Pokemon Youtubers point to the water gym-looking building that appeared in the Pokemon Sun and Moon reveal.
4. Flying Type — Flying is the type of the third as-of-yet unidentified badge shown off in the anime.
5. Dark Type — There has never been a dark type gym leader, and Pokemon doesn’t have any real reason, stylistic or mechanical, to keep that trend going. Nearly everyone who has speculated about this thinks there will be a dark type gym in Pokemon Sun and Moon.
6. Poison Type — Pokemon games love to include lots of poison type challenges because the type is conducive to lots of status conditions, a fun game mechanic for players to fight against. Plus, there have only ever been two generations to include poison type gym leaders (generations one and five).
7. Ghost Type — Ghost is another type that has been rare among Pokemon gyms. That combined with the fact there was no ghost gym in generation six’s Kalos region suggests we are probably in for another one in Pokemon Sun and Moon.
8. Fairy Type — True, we just saw one of these in Pokemon X and Y, but it is also a brand new type (introduced with generation six) and it is very probable Pokemon wants to show it off some more. Also, it is a popular consensus among Pokemon Youtubers that the two starters shown in the trailer will both be part fairy (one will be fire/fairy and one will be dark/fairy), so it would fit with the overall theme of Pokemon Sun and Moon.

These predictions are more or less consistent with Bird Keeper Toby, the most popular Youtuber to have covered the Pokemon Sun and Moon gym type topic. Check out his video below.

Also check out Verlisify’s video, which contains the hidden gym leader name easter egg as well as nine other easter eggs, most of which are also overlooked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA0w7P2uTHY

What do you think of these predictions for Pokemon Sun and Moon’s gym leader types? Spot-on or sorely lacking? Do you have any ideas not expressed in this article? Make yourself heard in the comments section!

[Image via the Pokemon Company]