Piplup is a pale cyan, penguin-likePokémon, which is covered in thick down to insulate against the cold. It has a blue head with a primarily white face and a short, yellow beak. The blue feathers on its head extend down its back and around its neck, which causes it to appear to be wearing a cape. There are two white ovals on its chest and a small, pale cyan marking resembles a crown above its beak. It has flipper-like arms and yellow feet with three toes each.
Piplup has a strong sense of self-pride. Because of its pride, it has a hard time accepting food fromhumans and bonding with its caretakers. It will even puff out its chest after it falls down, which it often does due to its poor walking abilities. However, it is a skilled swimmer that can dive for over ten minutes in order to hunt. It has also been shown to fly short distances in theanimated series. It lives along the seashore in colder climates. It has been recently seen living in theTerarium ofBlueberry Academy.
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond: Piplup is the only one of Pikachu's old friends to return, accompanying him to a newPokéPark. They venture intoWish Park together and try to save some of the Pokémon trapped there. Piplup becomes trapped in the Wish Park after saving Pikachu andOshawott's lives. He is later found byZorua andZoroark and announces that he wishes to stay in Wish Park so he can help the Pokémon who are coaxed into coming. Piplup is later taken byGothitelle in exchange for settingVictini free, and is then manipulated byDarkrai. Piplup later awakens Pikachu from Darkrai's nightmare and encourages Pikachu to seek out his missing friends after their memories were taken by Darkrai right before the final battle.
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.
Prefers cold climes and appears along coasts. It's an adorable little thing—as cute as any child—but it's also prideful, unwilling to accept handouts from people.
Piplup isn’t a great walker, with all its stumbling and falling, but it’s very good at swimming. It likes to find shells underwater and show them off to its friends.
Piplup debuted inFollowing A Maiden's Voyage!, where he got into a fight with aChimchar over theirfood inProfessor Rowan's lab. After ruining the lab, the two escaped, andDawn was given the task of finding them. She found Piplup, and the two narrowly escaped anAriados attack. Back at Rowan's lab, Dawn chose Piplup as her first partner Pokémon. Since then, he has been her main Pokémon and has been mostly seenoutside of his Poké Ball.
InDPS01, Professor Rowan presented a Piplup toShinko as one of the first partner Pokémon for her to pick. It fought with Rowan'sChimchar after it stole its food; this led to a window breaking and Piplup and Chimchar escaping. They were captured by anAriados's web before being rescued by Shinko andDawn.
A Piplup appeared inI Choose You!, under the ownership ofVerity. It is her main Pokémon.
InGoing for the Gold!, multiple Piplup were living in theAmbrette Aquarium. Seeing these Piplup reminded Ash of Dawn's, since her Piplup was "something else".
Hareta randomly selected Piplup to battle an enragedOnix inIn Search of the Legendary Pokémon Dialga!!. After their first encounter with Onix, Hareta chose Piplup as his firstPokémon. Piplup was originallydisobedient to Hareta, but eventually listened to him in order to defeat the Onix during their second battle.
On being released from aPoké Ball, Piplup slides along the stage usingSurf. Anyone caught in it will be pushed until Piplup disappears, or pushes the character off the stage. Piplup will keep using Surf even when off the stage.
Trophy information
A Penguin Pokémon. It's one of the starter Pokémon received from Professor Rowan when the player departs from the Sinnoh region. It's a Water type, so it's strong versusRock andGround-types. It's very cute but filled with pride--it hates to accept food from people. When it levels up, it evolves into Prinplup.
While Piplup no longer appears from Poké Balls, having been replaced byOshawott, it makes a cameo appearance in theKalos Pokémon League stage. When the stage transitions to theFlood Chamber, it can be seen in the background along withBlastoise,Wailord, andClawitzer.
Trophy information
You wouldn't think it from its adorable exterior, but this Pokémon is very proud and often won't listen to its Trainer. When it walks on land, it waddles and even falls over sometimes, all in a suitably cute way, but once it's in the water you'll see its true potential. It's a skilled swimmer and can dive for over ten minutes at a time to hunt.
In February 2007, a piece of merchandise at Toy Fair used "Pochama" to refer to this Pokémon, leading some fans to believe that it would be Piplup's English name. However, another item at the same event referred to it as "Piplup".[2]
Origin
Piplup is likely based on a youngpenguin, possibly anemperor penguin chick. The light blue crown-shaped marking above its beak may also allude to emperor penguins, or to emperors and kings in general. Piplup's body looks like it is clothed in atailcoat which is often compared to black and white plumage of penguins.
Name origin
Piplup is derived fromplop orplup, the sound of a pebble hitting water.[3] It may also incorporatepip, a stage of growth in baby birds immediately before they hatch from the eggshell.
Pochama is derived from ぽちゃぽちゃpochapocha (the sound of a pebble splashing in water).[3] It may also incorporate 坊っちゃまbotchama (young master).
This Pokémon article is part ofProject Pokédex, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
Piplup rejecting food
Piplup refusing a pillow from its Trainer
Piplup's "cape"
For other sprites and images, please seePiplup images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
