The Magikarp salesman (Japanese: コイキング売り Koiking salesman) is a con man who is always getting people, usually James, to buy one of his worthless Pokémon.
History[]
His first appearance in the anime was on the St. Anne in Battle Aboard the St. Anne selling Magikarp to anyone foolish enough to buy one. He would tell them that they would reproduce and make the buyer rich. James was foolish enough to buy one which later evolved into a Gyarados. Some time after he appeared with the same "selling strategy" in Tricks of the Trade and Doin' What Comes Natu-rally. Later, in Here's Lookin' at You, Elekid, he would trade his Weepinbell for James's Victreebel. He has also appeared in Hoenn, selling Hoppip disguised as Chimecho when James was searching for a Chimecho. He was also selling Magikarp disguised as Feebas for a Spoink's pearl which Team Rocket stole. Both of them were successfully sold to Team Rocket. He tried his golden Magikarp scam on Tracey in Showdown at the Oak Corral claiming that the Magikarp could lay golden Eggs. However, unlike Team Rocket, Tracey was too smart to fall for this trick. The Magikarp Salesman ran off when he discovered that he had knocked on the door of Professor Oak's Laboratory. He made a cameo when Ash captured Aipom in Channeling the Battle Zone. His latest major appearance was in Ya See We Want An Evolution!. He sold an Evolution machine/Mecha-bot to Team Rocket. While he did inform Team Rocket that the machine must warm up for at least a week before use, Team Rocket forgot to follow his instructions, which resulted in failure in evolving Pokémon and sustaining its Mecha-bot form. Therefore, it is unknown if this was another one of his scams, or if the machine would truly have worked. However, considering he ran off after telling them, it may have been another lie to keep them from following him. He made a cameo appearance in The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!, being one of the many people seen at the Kanto Fair that Ash and his friends were visiting.
Personality and characteristics[]
The Magikarp salesman is a con man; as such, he isn't afraid to lie to or mislead his costumers in order to sell his goods. He is one of the main reasons why Jessie has a Wobbuffet. In Tricks of the Trade, he tries to sell a Magikarp to James, but James recognizes him as the one who tricked him into buying a Magikarp on the St. Anne and chases after him, causing him to bump into Jessie, which sends her flying over to the trading machine. When she bumped into it, the Poké Ball containing her Lickitung fell onto the trading machine, trading it with Benny's Wobbuffet, which he was trying to trade throughout the episode.
Pokemon[]
1. Magikarp