Professor Willow ウィロー博士Dr. Willow
Art from Pokémon GO
Age	Unknown
Birthday	July 21[1]
Gender	Male
Eye color	Black
Hair color	Gray
Hometown	Unknown
Region	Unknown
Relatives	Unnamed mother, unnamed father
Generation	VI,VII,VIII,IX
Games	GO
Animated series	Pokémon Horizons: The Series The Two Professors
Debut	HZ042(Horizons; original Japanese only) Episode 1: A New Pokémon Has Been Discovered!(The Two Professors)
English voice actor	Robbie Daymond[2][3](The Two Professors)
Japanese voice actor	Nobuyuki Sakemoto(The Two Professors)

Professor Willow (Japanese:ウィロー博士Dr. Willow) is aPokémon Professor who appears in thePokémon GO mobile game. Similar toProfessor Birch, he specializes in Pokémon habitats and distribution. Unlike other Professors who directly giveTrainers their first Pokémon, Professor Willow gives Trainers their firstPoké Balls to capture their first Pokémon.

Background information

Professor Willow was an only child who learned his love of Pokémon and exploring from his parents. His mother researched Pokémon ecology and his father was fascinated by the outdoors.^[4] Before setting out on his own exploration, he worked in a lab studying Pokémon underProfessor Oak, whom he still looks up to today.^[5]

In addition to Professor Oak inKanto,Professor Sycamore inKalos,Professor Magnolia inGalar, andJacq inPaldea are also colleagues of his.

Despite his confident presentation, Professor Willow confesses to a shy side and values spending time alone outdoors for his research.^[6] He always wears his lab coat to help himself focus on his research.^[7] His dream is to explore uncharted lands and to examine and document newPokémon species yet to be discovered in their natural habitat.^[8]

Upon discovery of manyMeltan-disguisedDitto by his assistants at the conclusion of theChikoritaCommunity Day, Professor Willow contacted Professor Oak to discuss the matter.^[9] It was revealed during later Special Researches that Professor Willow has aMeltan as his Pokémonbuddy.

While investigatingTeam GO Rocket take-overs, Professor Willow recovered some corrupted files from his computer, uncovering data about Team GO Rocket LeadersCliff,Sierra, andArlo. He later found out thatTeam GO Rocket Grunts were droppingMysterious Components behind them when defeated at invadedPokéStops. With the help of his assistants, the three team leaders, he was able to build an earlyRocket Radar prototype to locate theTeam GO Rocket Leaders and later theSuper Rocket Radar to locateGiovanni himself.^[10]

On June 5, 2022, during the second day of thePokémon GO Fest 2022 event, Professor Willow suddenly disappeared, and in his stead appearedRhi, of theGO Ultra Recon Squad. It was later revealed that Professor Willow had entered anUltra Wormhole and ended up inUltra Space. On August 27, 2022, Rhi and the player managed to rescue Professor Willow from Ultra Space in time for the Pokémon GO Fest 2022 Finale event, though his outfit was changed for a few months.

On November 5, 2022, following theDratiniCommunity Day Classic event, Professor Willow was contacted by Jacq when Trainers discovered a?????? Coin from thePaldea region upon spinning a golden PokéStop. Jacq contacted Professor Willow again soon after to discuss the ecology ofGimmighoul. Gimmighoul's Chest Form was named byJacq, while its Roaming Form was named by Professor Willow.^[11]

Transferring Pokémon

Theplayer can transfer Pokémon to Professor Willow using the "Transfer" option on the status screen in exchange for oneCandy for that Pokémon'sevolutionary line. A Pokémon transferred to the Professor is permanently lost, equivalent toreleasing a Pokémon in thecore series games.

Assistants

Professor Willow has three assistants who each are head of ateam that research Pokémon in different ways. They perform this research inside Gyms owned by their respective teams, with each team's mascot being one of thelegendary birds. The leader of the teams will alsoappraise the Pokémon of trainers on their teams when asked to.

His assistants are:

• Spark, the leader of Team Instinct (Japanese: チーム・インスティンクトTeam Instinct), who is researchingPokémon breeding. Team Instinct Trainers believe a Pokémon's intuition is linked to how they are hatched. Team Instinct is represented byZapdos.
• Blanche, the leader of Team Mystic (Japanese: チーム・ミスティックTeam Mystic), who is researching PokémonEvolution. Team Mystic Trainers believe that by staying calm and analyzing every situation, they can't lose. Team Mystic is represented byArticuno.
• Candela, the leader of Team Valor (Japanese: チーム・ヴァーラーTeam Valor), who is researching Pokémon strength. Team Valor Trainers believe that their Pokémon are the strongest because they train to naturally enhance a Pokémon's power in search of true strength. Team Valor is represented byMoltres.

Gallery

Artwork

Appearance from Pokémon GO between August 27th and November 30th, 2022[12]

Quotes

Main article:Professor Willow/Quotes

In animation

This section is missing information on this character's Japanese voice actor. Please feel free to edit this section to add this information.

Pokémon Horizons: The Series

Professor Willow appeared in a bonus scene forHZ042, where he was seen contactingFriede to ask theRising Volt Tacklers to investigate a sudden appearance of severalPikachu with caps similar toCaptain Pikachu's. Soon after, the call was interrupted when one of them electrocuted him. This bonus scene was not dubbed into English.

Professor Willow appeared again in a bonus segment inHZ092. This time, he gave an introduction aboutLiko's Floragato at anevent inPokémon GO. At this time, it is unknown whether this scene is canon to the events ofPokémon Horizons: The Series.

Pokémon

Gimmighoul

Debut	HZ042

ThisRoaming FormGimmighoul is Professor Willow's only known Pokémon. It appeared alongside him when he contacted Friede to ask for help.

None of Gimmighoul's moves are known.

Voice actors

The Two Professors

Professor Willow is a main character inThe Two Professors, a series of three CGI-animated shorts.

In the TCG

Main article:Professor's Research (SWSH Promo 178)

On March 4, 2021, Niantic announced that they had reached an agreement with The Pokémon Trading Card Game and that Professor Willow would appear in the TCG starting summer 2021.^[13] Professor Willow's TCG card art and availability were revealed on June 15, 2021.^[14][15] Each card comes with a unique 16 digit code that can be redeemed in Pokémon GO from July 1, 2021, at 12:00 a.m. UTC to August 1, 2023, at 12:00 a.m. UTC to unlock aSpecial Research as well as amedal. A version without a code but with aPokémon GO stamp was later included in thePokémon GO V Battle Deck—Mewtwo vs. Melmetal.

In stores

On November 19, 2019, an extension to thePokémon Center Mega Tokyo called Pokémon GO Lab was unveiled. This space includes a life-size statue of Professor Willow, as well as Pokémon GO-related merchandise and a real-time monitor displaying trainer names and team scores for the Pokémon GO Gym attached to the lab.^[16]

Voice actors

While Pokémon GO does not include vocal performances, in various promotional materials, he is voiced by Robbie Daymond in English. In the Japanese version ofThe Two Professors, he is voiced by Nobuyuki Sakemoto.

Trivia

• Willow was designed byYusuke Kozaki.^[17]
• Professor Willow is the first Pokémon Professor in a spin-off game to have a colleague from the core series.
  • Aside fromFriede, Professor Willow was the first Pokémon Professor to appear inPokémon Horizons: The Series.

Names

References

Related articles

• The Two Professors

This game character article is part ofProject CharacterDex, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in thePokémon games.

• Characters
• Male characters
• Animation characters
• Characters with an unknown Japanese voice actor
• Game characters
• Professors
• Pokémon GO characters