Butterfree

is one of the fictional species of Pokémon in the Pokémon franchise (a series of video games, anime, manga, trading cards and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri).

Butterfree’s name is probably a combination of butterfly and free, but may also be related to its Japanese name, バタフリー Batafurī.

Butterfree is not to be confused with Beautifly, a similar butterfly Pokémon indigenous to a different region.

Characteristics

Butterfree is an attractive butterfly Pokémon with large red eyes, a dark purple body, two hands, and two feet (instead of the six legs real butterflies have). Its white wings are covered with a toxic dust, which also makes them water repellant. This lets it fly in even heavy rains, something that many real insects and other Bug-type Pokémon cannot do (see Masquerain).

In battle, it flaps its wings at high speeds to release the dust into the air, weakening the opponent with a variety of ailments so that Butterfree can either flee or continue the battle with an advantage. Butterfree also has a rather startling ability to use moderate telekinetic and telepathic powers.

Butterfree feeds by collecting honey every day, flying from flower to flower, and rubbing the honey onto the hairs on on its legs to take back to its nest. It is capable of sighting blooming flowers as far as six miles away from the nest.

In the upcoming Diamond and Pearl versions of the game, female Butterfree have an extra black marking on each of their lower wings.

In the Pokémon video games

Butterfree are not generally found in the wild, appearing only in a few locations within the Johto region. Otherwise, Butterfree must be evolved from Metapod. In Pokémon XD, a Shadow Butterfree can be snagged from Cipher Peon Targ. It is one of only four evolved Pokémon to reach its final form as early as level 10(with the others being Beedrill, Beautifly, and Dustox), and is therefore an invaluable part of most early teams in-game.

Butterfree is vulnerable to Rock, Fire, Flying, Electric, Ice (and, in Pokémon Red and Blue, Poison) attacks, and strong against Grass-, Ground-, Bug- and Fighting-type Pokémon.

Overall, Butterfree’s stats are quite reasonable. It has good special attack, special defense and speed, though it suffers from below-average defense and attack. Where it truly excels is in its pool of special moves which inflict status effects, such as Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, which work well with its Compound Eyes ability. This may be further complimented by teaching it the self-healing attack Mega Drain or Giga Drain, or even Dream Eater (in combination with Sleep Powder, which is 97.5% accurate thanks to Compound Eyes).

Butterfree is better at Zerging than most Bug Pokemon.

Butterfree, sadly, is only second-best when it comes to being a Bug Pokemon, with Scizor and Shuckle tied for first.

Butterfree also appears in the Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap, flitting around the Beach area.

In the Pokémon anime

In episode four, “Challenge of the Samurai”, Ash’s Caterpie evolved into a Metapod, and by the end of the episode, Metapod evolved into a Butterfree, saving Ash and his friends from a swarm of Beedrill with its powerful Sleep Powder. Ash used Butterfree in battle quite often, particularly taking advantage of its status-affecting powders.

In episode 20, “Bye Bye Butterfree”, Ash’s Butterfree fell in love with a pink wild Butterfree during the Butterfree mating season. Trying to act in its best interests, Ash released his Butterfree. A popular rumor suggests that the Japanese episode revealed that Butterfree dies after mating and 4Kids simply cut this from English version.

The pink Butterfree in “Bye Bye Butterfree” was the first unusually-colored Pokémon featured in the anime, long before this was a feature of the games, and some believe that shiny Pokémon may have been inspired by this appearance. The fact that shiny Butterfree are pink seems to support this, although, unlike the games, this Butterfree’s eyes, mouth, and limbs retained their normal colors and its body was pink.

On Valencia island, Brock mentions to Professor Ivy that Butterfree like sweet-tasting food. Also in the Orange Islands, Ash and his friends discover Butterfree with different wing-patterns; they are told that this is indicative of climate and other environmental factors, and Butterfree experts can identify where in the world and even where in the Orange Islands a Butterfree is from by looking at its wings.

In other media

In the The Electric Tale of Pikachu! manga, which loosely parallels the storyline of the anime, Ash’s Metapod evolved into Butterfree during his battle with Misty. Ash used Butterfree a few more times before it stopped appearing with no explanation given. In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Yellow was reluctant to let her Caterpie evolve, but it finally did so, rapidly becoming first Metapod and then Butterfree, to help in the showdown with Lance.

There are six distinct Butterfree cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, two more than either Caterpie or Metapod. Specifically, it appears in Jungle (included in Base Set 2 and Legendary Collection), Southern Islands, Neo Discovery, Pokémon *VS (as Bugsy’s Butterfree, a basic Pokémon), Expedition, and EX FireRed & LeafGreen. Like other Stage 2 Pokémon, Butterfree is much less common (and therefore more valuabe) than its Basic and Stage 1 forms.

According to an episode of "Norm", Norm McDonald has a Butterfree and battles with a kid who thinks he's Ash Ketchum.

References

The following games and their instruction manuals: Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue; Pokémon Yellow; Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen; Pokémon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness

Publications

Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0439154049.
Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 130206151.
Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Snap Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., 1999. ASIN B000CDZP9G
Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 193020650X
Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0761547614
Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., September 22 2005. ISBN 1598120026

Manga volumes

Ono, Toshihiro. Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu! Graphic Novel. VIZ Media LLC, September 9 1999. ISBN 1569313784
Kusaka, Hidenori, & Mato. Pokémon Adventures, Volume 7: The Yellow Caballero: The Pokémon Elite. VIZ Media LLC, January 2003. ISBN 1569318514

External links

Official Pokémon website
Bulbapedia (a Pokémon-centric Wiki)’s article about Butterfree as a species
- Bulbapedia’s article about Ash’s Butterfree
Serebii.net’s 3rd Gen Pokédex entry for Butterfree
Pokémon Dungeon Pokédex entry, full of statistics analysis
PsyPoke Pokédex entry
Smogon Pokédex entry