Hello, all! With everything going on lately, I decided now would be a good time for some fun distraction. My Disney fanaticism is pretty well documented on this blog, but readers may be unaware that I am also a Pokémon nerd.
I am not a fighter – even though they are digital it still makes me a little sad to think of them battling each other to the point of fainting, so the combat part of Pokémon was never a big draw. I complete the battles necessary to advance the game and any necessary to train my creatures, but the advent of Pokémon jobs in Sword and Shield has offered a nice alternative to levelling up the little ones. So, take all of this with a grain of salt because my teams are based on untested strategy. I train my Pokémon to well above the necessary level and then one- or two-punch my way through battles to preserve their health.
I maintain a spreadsheet of all my Pokémon, their current level, their Hidden Ability, their current Nature, their nickname, and in which game they currently reside (thank you, Pokémon Home!). It’s up to 1,013 through Generation 8 (from 905 unique species) because multiples of certain ones felt necessary (like Barack and Michelle Abomasnow).
Part of the fun I have is arranging them into teams. I have a few gameplay, strategic rosters designed to capture new Pokémon and win battles, but then I also like to arrange teams for pure entertainment (like the series I made of teams based on animal types: bats, cats, dogs, foxes, barnyard animals, etc.)
Today, I wanted to share teams developed based on Disney films – specifically the Disney Princess films, but I also covered Winnie the Pooh and The Lion King.
Method and Layout:
For the princesses, each character has two teams. The first team are Pokémon based on their respective film, and these are very much not competitive (a good electric Pokémon would lay waste to most of Ariel’s squad). Winnie the Pooh and The Lion King also have teams in this group.
It was while putting together those teams that I noticed certain princesses favoured a particular type, so I went back and created a second team based on the notion of the princess as a gym leader. This was the more strategic approach and it had to meet a series of (somewhat arbitrary criteria):
- All Pokémon on the team must share a type. They can have a second type, and the principal type can be either Type I or Type II, but the principal type must be present (i.e., cannot use a Pokémon because it looks like a dragon if it’s not designated with the Dragon type).
- Each type may be used only once. The 15 characters were not allowed to share a type, which in some cases meant passing a first choice for an alternative because the first choice made more sense for someone else (you would think Moana would be Water, but no…)
- Try to avoid Mythical and Legendary Pokémon – even with Home, there are limitations on transferring these creatures into too many games, so I tried to avoid including them.
Along with the Pokémon, I list the type(s) and their nickname – some of them appear because I had already named mine after a character in the story. The Eevee family in particular are popular here because I named the entire group after Disney Princesses.
As always, please feel free to provide feedback and alternatives based on your experience!
Snow White
Mascot Team – Snow White’s titular character, and only nickname representative, in my roster is my Applin (how could I skip the apple?). The rest of her gang are simply her woodland friends.
- Applin (Grass/Dragon) – Snow White
- Taillow (Normal/Flying) – Robin
- Buneary (Normal) – Babs
- Pachirisu (Electric) – Jessy
- Deerling (Normal/Grass) – Faline
- Emolga (Electric/Flying) – Olivia
“Fairest of Them All” Gym Leader Team – POISON
Snow White’s team focuses on poison, per the whole Evil Queen apple thing. Vileplume and Roserade have always been my go-to characters for Grass and Poison. The biggest issue here is Poison does not affect Steel, so enter Salandit to nullify that advantage a bit. We also have to watch out for Psychic and Ground, so Gengar and Toxicroak join the squad. Toxtricity rounds out the team for the defensive advantage of the Electric type (only vulnerable to Ground, and we have them covered).
- Vileplume (Grass/Poison) – Willow
- Roserade (Grass/Poison) – Limerick
- Toxtricity (Electric/Poison) – Joplin (I have a pair, the other is Hendrix)
- Toxicroak (Poison/Fighting) – Knuckles
- Gengar (Ghost/Poison) – Venkman
- Salandit (Poison/Fire) – Ishtar
Cinderella
Mascot Team – Cinderella has a pair of Pokémon named after her characters, and then the rest are thematic. I saw a few options for representing her Fairy Godmother, but decided against it (Hatterene?). Gourgeist is our pumpkin carriage representative and Purugly is here as Bruno.
- Glaceon (Ice) – Cinderella
- Dedenne (Electric/Fairy) – Gus
- Gourgeist (Ghost/Grass) – Katrina (after the female lead from Disney’s Ichabod Crane film)
- Purugly (Normal) – Vénissieux
- Audino (Normal) – Po
- Swablu (Normal/Flying) – Nephele
“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” Gym Leader Team – NORMAL
Cinderella is a pumpkin spice-drinking, basic kind of lady and one of the OG Disney Princesses. Also, you will see as we progress that the options for Cinderella get reduced fast by the strong thematic elements of other characters (Bug, Ground, and Rock are the only three not used).
Normal is a type with little advantage or disadvantage beyond the mutually assured standoff with Ghost types. Zoroark is there to aid on that front, and also to nullify the Fighting advantage. There’s also the reduced effectiveness against Rock and Steel, which is why Bibarel and Ursaluna join the team. Sawsbuck is there for a boost against the very common Water type, while Drampa rounds out the team with a defensive Dragon type.
- Snorlax (Normal) – Michele (named after my wife as this is her favourite)
- Ursaluna (Normal/Ground) – Beckers
- Sawsbuck (Normal/Grass) – Bambi
- Drampa (Normal/Dragon) – Falkor
- Bibarel (Normal/Water) – Reilly
- Zoroark (Normal/Ghost) – Kitsune
Aurora
Mascot Team – We continue the process of increasing direct representation on the mascot teams with three for Aurora, while the other three are mostly thematic additions. Similar to the Fairy Godmother, I wanted to include representation for Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, but the best option seemed to be colour variations on a single Pokémon and I wanted to avoid that.
- Sylveon (Fairy) – Aurora
- Regidrago (Dragon) – Maleficent (I know, it’s a Regi, but I named it Maleficent)
- Murkrow (Dark/Flying) – Diablo
- Snorlax (Normal) – Michele
- Hoothoot (Normal/Flying) – Doris
- Hatterene (Psychic/Fairy) – Minerva
“Once Upon a Dream” Gym Leader Team – FAIRY
Make it pink. Make it blue. Go to sleep. The Fairy tyle only felt natural for Sleeping Beauty. Poison and Steel are the biggest threats offensively, but Rapidash and Gardevoir should handle them. Defensively it also needs to address Fire, which is where Azumarill comes into the mix. The final three merely appear as resilient Fairy types on which I often rely.
- Rapidash (Psychic/Fairy) – Pegasus
- Gardevoir (Psychic/Fairy) – Sprite
- Azumarill (Water/Fairy) – Maya
- Wigglytuff (Normal/Fairy) – Frenzy
- Grimmsnarl (Dark/Fairy) – Osborn
- Whimsicott (Grass/Fairy) – Pixie
Ariel
Mascot Team – Ariel is the first character for whom I had a six-monster team already named, so her team was a no-brainer:
- Vaporeon (Water) – Ariel
- Wingull (Water/Flying) -Scuttle
- Corphish (Water) – Sebastian
- Feebas (Water) – Flounder
- Eelectrik (Electric) – Floatsam
- Eelectross (Electric) – Jetsam
“Under the Sea” Gym Leader Team – WATER
I mean, of course. She lives in the water, so what else could it be? Sorry, Moana. Water offers a unique challenge because so many Pokémon have a Water type. A starting point was the obvious enemy – Electric – which is why Seismitoad is here. Water also struggles with Grass, which is why Lapras is here to provide Ice support. Lanturn is a personal favourite and adds a jolt to the water team for handling opposing Water types. Empoleon is a defensive advantage, while Slowking and Kingdra help round out the offense to cover an array of opponents.
- Lanturn (Water/Electric) – Dory
- Lapras (Water/Ice) – Nessie
- Empoleon (Water/Steel) – Skipper
- Slowking (Water/Psychic) – Julien
- Kingdra (Water/Dragon) – Triton (yeah, that Triton, but I only had 6 spots on the Mascot Team)
- Seismitoad (Water/Ground) – Michigan
Belle
Mascot Team – My favourite Disney Princess has a little less representation than I would have expected. I mean, most of her team have nicknames direct from the film, but I thought I identified more than 5. Djali (named after Esmeralda’s goat from Hunchback) is here representing the goat that started to eat Belle’s book during the opening song.
- Eevee (Normal) – Belle
- Rapidash (Fire) – Philippe
- Chandelure (Ghost/Fire) – Lumiere (I know, Litwick. I felt he was too candle and not enough candelabra for the name)
- Sinistea (Ghost) – Chip
- Polteageist (Ghost) – Mrs. Potts
- Gogoat (Grass) – Djali
“Something There” Gym Leader Team – GHOST
Ghosts? For Belle? Hear me out: it began innocently when I was doing all of their mascot teams and realised, “Wow, lots of Ghost representation on Belle’s squad. Why do so many Ghost types look like Beauty and the Beast characters?” But then I thought, “Enchanted castle. Humans trapped inside objects.” I’ve even outlined a Beauty and the Beast-based novel that takes a horror spin, so this is not so farfetched after all.
Ghosts cannot hit Normal types at all, but as with the Normal team Zoroark is here to help. Other Ghosts and Dark types are the biggest threat to this team, which is why it opens with Mimikyu (Annie spearheaded my Sword team). The rest of the team was a mix of offence (Chandelure’s Fire; Golurk’s Ground) and defence (Dragapult’s Dragon; Aegislash’s Steel) against an array of opposing types.
- Mimikyu (Ghost/Fairy) – Annie
- Chandelure (Ghost/Fire) – Lumiere
- Zoroark (Normal/Ghost) – Kitsune
- Golurk (Ground/Ghost) – Karloff
- Dragapult (Dragon/Ghost) – Kaikoura
- Aegislash (Steel/Ghost) – Excalibur
Jasmine
Mascot Team – I was shocked not to have more Aladdin representation on my roster, but I think a lack of clear matches held it back.
- Espeon (Psychic) – Jasmine
- Aipom (Normal) – Abu
- Hoopa (Psychic/Dark or Ghost) – Genie
- Incineroar (Fire/Dark) – Montrouge
- Arcanine (Fire) – Beaumont
- Sableye (Dark/Ghost) – Spike
“Speechless” Gym Leader Team – PSYCHIC
Revisiting the Belle phenomenon. “Why Psychic?” the reader asks. It comes back to genies, sorcerers, and Espeon’s role as my Jasmine representative in the Eevee lineup. It’s one of the bigger stretches, but in the context of all 18 types it’s the one that makes the most sense here.
My immediate focus was that Psychic cannot hit Dark. Rapidash, Orbeetle, and Gallade turn that around completely. Gallade is joined by Claydol to handle Steel types, while Malamar joins Orbeetle to handle other Psychic types. Starmie provides a broad Water touch to the team to balance things.
- Starmie (Water/Psychic) – Kasumi
- Rapidash (Psychic/Fairy) – Pegasus
- Malamar (Dark/Psychic) – Medusa
- Orbeetle (Bug/Psychic) – Axel
- Claydol (Ground/Psychic) – Sayers
- Gallade (Psychic/Fighting) – Donnie
Pocahontas
Mascot Team – I felt good about assigning these six to the Pocahontas team, even though only three of them are direct nicknames. I think her intimate connection with nature helps. Pikipek stands in for Flit here, and Sudowoodo stands in for Grandmother Willow while Xatu adds some symbolism.
- Leafeon (Grass) – Pocahontas
- Zigzagoon (Normal) – Meeko
- Snubbull (Fairy) – Percy
- Pikipek (Normal/Flying) – Piper
- Sudowoodo (Rock) – Groot
- Xatu (Psychic/Flying) – Chequa
“Colors of the Wind” Gym Leader Team – FLYING
Flying is an interesting group because by itself it has a lot of balance, and it typically appears as a secondary type. With only 3 pure Flying types, this team comes down to the second type more than any other type.
Togekiss and Corviknight provided a lot of balance to that from the start with their offsetting Fairy and Steel types. The remaining four are designed to cover the offence against a wide array of opponents (you may notice lots of Ground in these teams). The Bug type is only effective against a handful of things, but they happen to be types harder to cover otherwise. It wound up being a toss between Beautifly and Butterfree for that spot, and I went with the Beautifly I named for actress Pier Angeli.
- Togekiss (Fairy/Flying) – Freyr
- Corviknight (Flying/Steel) – Baltimore
- Beautifly (Bug/Flying) – Angeli
- Charizard (Fire/Flying) – Kieran
- Hawlucha (Fighting/Flying) – Bane
- Gliscor (Ground/Flying) – Bruce
Mulan
Mascot Team – Until the Pokémon Company rounds out the rest of the Eevee evolutions, we have only so many options and a surplus of princesses, so I had to branch out in some cases (like Snow White’s Applin). I found Pawniard and Bisharp, the Asian-influenced warriors, and decided they made a good match. Spectrier, named for Prince Phillip’s horse, stands in for Khan and Centiskorch stands in for Mushu.
- Pawniard (Dark/Steel) – Mulan
- Bisharp (Dark/Steel) – Shang
- Kricketot (Bug) – Cri-Kee
- Spectrier (Ghost) – Samson
- Centiskorch (Fire/Bug) – Tianlong
- Masquerain (Bug/Flying) – Geisha
“Worth Fighting For” Gym Leader Team – FIGHTING
Fighting is a sort of counterpoint to Flying – it’s often the first and only type. While the Pokémon with this type have an array of moves, defensively they are extremely vulnerable to Psychic, Flying, and Fairy types, while unable to use their type against Ghost types at all.
While Fighting itself is “Not very effective” against several types, it’s possible to rely on the alternate moves to deal damage. So, I focused on defence for this team. Urshifu handles Psychic, Crabominable handles Flying, and Lucario handles Fairy. Urshifu also guarantees an advantage against Ghost types.
- Hitmonchan (Fighting) – Ali
- Urshifu (Fighting/Dark) – Liffey
- Lucario (Fighting/Steel) – Milla
- Crabominable (Fighting/Ice) – Erskine
- Kommo-o (Dragon/Fighting) – Fei-hung
- Toxicroak (Poison/Fighting) – Knuckles
Tiana
Mascot Team – I knew this team would lean on the amphibians and reptiles. Tiana and Naveen have actual characters, while the frog named after the city also had to appear. Krookodile is here for Louis as he looks most similar (even though he’s not an alligator – none of the gators look like Louis) and Volbeat stands in as our lightning bug. Illumise works just as well.
- Umbreon (Dark) – Tiana
- Swampert (Water/Ground) – Naveen
- Cofagrigus (Ghost) – Facilier
- Frogadier (Water) – Orleans
- Krookodile (Ground/Dark) – Dundee
- Volbeat (Bug) – Rogers
“Friends on the Other Side” Gym Leader Team – DARK
This was a tough choice because most of the characters are amphibious, and that would suggest Water but we already gave that to Ariel. I considered Ground or Rock as well because of the broad inclusion of reptiles, but finally went with Facilier’s “friends on the other side” – the dark spirits.
The biggest threat here are Ghost and other Dark types. Grimmsnarl (Dark/Fairy) serves as a defensive anchor. Fairy is super effective against the Dark type, but they also meet their match with this team due to the deliberate inclusion of Poison and Steel.
- Krookodile (Ground/Dark) – Dundee
- Greninja (Water/Dark) – Ronin
- Bisharp (Dark/Steel) – Shang
- Houndoom (Dark/Fire) – Blitz
- Grimmsnarl (Dark/Fairy) – Osborn
- Skuntank (Poison/Dark) – Buttercup
Rapunzel
Mascot Team – This was one of my favourites to put together because it was a nice mix of direct names and some fun theming. Chimecho was named for Rapunzel’s kingdom to reflect the banners hanging throughout, and Drifblim is here as one of the floating lights. Lastly, we have Tangela because, well, it’s tangled.
- Jolteon (Electric) – Rapunzel
- Kecleon (Normal) – Pascal
- Keldeo (Water/Fighting) – Maximus
- Chimecho (Psychic) – Corona
- Drifblim (Ghost/Flying) – Theodora
- Tangela (Grass) – Lata
“See the Light” Gym Leader Team – ELECTRIC
Another team that opened with a clear objective – deal with Ground types. What good is this team if a single type can wreak havoc against it? The new Hisuian Electrode and personal favourite Lanturn are here to make sure Electric’s biggest weakness is not such an easy fight. Dedenne provides some offence against the defensively tough Dragon type, while Toxtricity provides a boost against Grass types.
- Dedenne (Electric/Fairy) – Gus
- Jolteon (Electric) – Rapunzel
- Morpeko (Electric/Dark) – Marnie (she has a Morpeko, and now I have a Morpeko named Marnie)
- Toxtricity (Electric/Poison) – Joplin
- Electrode (Electric/Grass) – Rawlings
- Lanturn (Water/Electric) – Dory
Merida
Mascot Team – The Pixar Princess had a lot of direct representation on the list because so many Pokémon reminded me of this film. Teddiursa, which reminds me of Merida’s brothers in bear form, and Rapidash, an alternative for her horse Angus, are the only two not named directly for the characters.
- Flareon (Fire) – Merida
- Ursaring (Normal) – Elinor
- Pangoro (Fighting/Dark) – Mor’du
- Mudsdale (Ground) – Angus
- Teddiursa (Normal) – Winnie
- Rapidash (Fire) – Philippe
“Into the Open Air” Gym Leader Team – FIRE
Like many people it would seem, Fire is where I often lean for starters in these games. I have nothing against Water or Grass, but the availability of other Water and Grass types early in the game paired with the usual sequence of gyms made Fire seem like a smart choice (and Charmander is my number one).
Rapidash and Flareon are here for sheer skill – I have always found them to be tough and fast, so their single type doesn’t worry me. Water, Ground, and Rock are the big worries, and Darmanitan is here because the Galarian form gains an Ice type in Zen mode. The fact that many Fire types can also learn Ground and Rock type moves helps maintain a balance as well.
- Rapidash (Fire) – Philippe
- Arcanine (Fire/Rock) – Guitane
- Flareon (Fire) – Merida
- Centiskorch (Fire/Bug) – Tianlong
- Darmanitan (Ice/Fire) – Bumble
- Talonflame (Fire/Flying) – Warbeak
Anna
Mascot Team – Again having only so many Eevee options available, I knew I would have to identify alternates. When it came to the Arendelle sisters, the Vulpix pair seemed like an excellent option to fit in with the theme. Ninetales appears to fill things out mostly, while Wyrdeer stands in for Sven. Ducklett is from Anna’s interaction in the first film.
- Vulpix (Fire) – Anna
- Zebstrika (Electric) – Sitron
- Sandslash (Ice/Steel) – Kristoff
- Ninetales (Fire) – Blake
- Wyrdeer (Normal/Psychic) – Prancer
- Ducklett (Water/Flying) – Daisy
“Lost in the Woods” Gym Leader Team – GRASS
Grass is a tough offensive option because it’s not very effective against several types. Almost as bad, it has more weaknesses than strengths on offence, too. Torterra helps even things with its Ground typing. The rest of the team is a mix to cover the remaining types as best possible, though I do consider this one of the most vulnerable teams in the group.
- Vileplume (Grass/Poison) – Willow
- Torterra (Grass/Ground) – Leonardo
- Decidueye (Grass/Fighting) – Crane
- Whimsicott (Grass/Fairy) – Pixie
- Tropius (Grass/Flying) – Littlefoot
- Cradily (Rock/Grass) – Viridios
Elsa
Mascot Team – Elsa’s team is unsurprisingly icy. Bergmite appears in place of the Snowgies, Glastrier represents Nokk, and Salandit represents Bruni the salamander (I’ve considered a rename – Ishtar my Salandit is older than Frozen 2).
- Vulpix (Ice) – Elsa
- Cryogonal (Ice) – Arendelle
- Bergmite (Ice) – Margerie
- Glastrier (Ice) – Tally
- Ninetales (Ice/Fairy) – Amelia
- Salandit (Poison/Fire) – Ishtar
“Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” Gym Leader Team – ICE
What else could it be? The woman has ice powers. The big problem with Ice is the defence. While several types are super effective against it, it has only one advantage: other Ice types. Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel are attacking threats, while there’s an offensive disadvantage against Fire, Water, Ice, and Steel. The team opens with Lapras, whose Water side tips the scales back. Having Fairy and Steel available again goes a long way to making the team competitive while Frosmoth, a Bug, helps provide offensive backup against Grass, Psychic, and Dark types.
- Lapras (Water/Ice) – Nessie
- Ninetales (Ice/Fairy) – Amelia
- Sandslash (Ice/Steel) – Kristoff
- Frosmoth (Ice/Bug) – Frigg
- Mamoswine (Ice/Ground) – Manny
- Froslass (Ice/Ghost) – Nell
Moana
Mascot Team – Sorry, but there’s no Maui or Pua here (although Pua does have a representative in Tepig). Heatran looks like something right out of Moana’s universe, and Lapras provides a general sense of water transport. This was kind of tough because there was some temptation to load up on Alola Pokémon and call it a day.
- Marowak (Fire/Ghost) – Moana
- Combusken (Fire/Fighting) – Hei Hei
- Crawdaunt (Water/Dark) – Tamatoa
- Heatran (Fire/Steel) – Tahiti
- Tepig (Fire) – Petunia
- Lapras (Water/Ice) – Nessie
“Know Who You Are” Gym Leader Team – STEEL
With Water already assigned to Ariel, I shifted attention to Moana’s steely strength of will. Steel’s major selling point is defence (for those unfamiliar, the Fairy type appeared to balance gameplay against Dragon types, and Steel was the other side of that coin). Fire, Fighting, and Ground are the only threats against this group. Water addresses two of those, and the Corviknight/Bronzong combination switches the balance against Fighting types.
Lucario provides offence against other Steel types, while the others allow a good balance against the remaining types.
- Corviknight (Flying/Steel) – Baltimore
- Sandslash (Ice/Steel) – Kristoff
- Lucario (Fighting/Steel) – Milla
- Empoleon (Water/Steel) – Skipper
- Bronzong (Steel/Psychic) – Ben
- Mawile (Steel/Fairy) – Sindel
Raya
Mascot Team – Most of my Pokémon already had names by the time Raya hit theatres, with the most notable animal character in the film being Sisu. The result is a straightforward lineup of Sisu-esque dragons.
- Milotic (Water) – Oisin
- Rayquaza (Dragon/Flying) – Shenron
- Gyarados (Water/Flying) – Poseidon
- Drampa (Normal/Dragon) – Falkor
- Dragalge (Poison/Dragon) – Calgary
- Salamence (Dragon/Flying) – Lockheed
“Lead the Way” Gym Leader Team – DRAGON
That made the other part easy as well. “Raya and the Last Dragon” – she just had to be the Dragon trainer of the group. Similar to the Steel type, what always made Dragon types a final hurdle in the games is that very little deals damage against them and they tend to have high defence. Only Ice, other Dragon, and the newly introduced Fairy type are super effective. On the other hand, Dragon types do little offence – super against Dragon, ineffective against Steel, and no effect against Fairy.
The focus immediately becomes Fairy then, which is susceptible to Poison and Steel. The other four exist to address the lack of super effectiveness with the Dragon type, providing tons of attack options with this lineup while retaining the high defence. This is probably the toughest lineup on the list.
- Dragapult (Dragon/Ghost) – Kaikoura
- Flygon (Ground/Dragon) – Morana
- Turtonator (Fire/Dragon) – Tokka
- Konmo-o (Dragon/Fighting) – Fei-hung
- Dragalge (Poison/Dragon) – Calgary
- Duraludon (Steel/Dragon) – Khalifa
Winnie the Pooh Team
Two bonuses: first, a team inspired by the Hundred Acre Wood.
- Teddiursa (Normal) – Winnie
- Spoink (Psychic) – Piglet
- Slowpoke (Water/Psychic) – Eeyore
- Kangaskhan (Normal) – Roo
None of the other Pokémon looked enough like Pooh corner characters to inspire nicknames, but I round out the roster with substitutes for Rabbit and Owl:
- Lopunny (Normal) – Victoria
- Noctowl (Normal/Flying) – Hedwig
The Lion King
The Lion King, on the other hand, had a surplus of potential matches. Beyond the wide availability of animals featured in the film, some pretty obvious matches appeared:
- Pyroar (Fire/Normal) – Simba
- Pyroar (Fire/Normal) – Nala (kept one of each because of their distinct appearances)
- Watchdog (Normal) – Timon
- Emboar (Fire/Fighting) – Pumbaa
- Passimian (Fighting) – Rafiki
- Archen (Rock/Flying) – Zazu
Celtic Riverside 