User:Kung Fu Man/Jigglypuff

Jigglypuff (プリン) is the name of a fictional species found in Game Freak's Pokémon series of video games. First appearing in Pokémon Red and Blue, Jigglypuff has since appeared in almost every later game in the franchise, including spinoff titles such as the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. In additional, the character has also appeared in a recurring role in the anime series, as well as been the focus for several printed adaptions of the franchise. Jigglypuff is voiced by Rachael Lillis in English, and by Mika Kanai in Japanese.

Design and characteristics
Jigglypuff is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise owned by Nintendo. Known as the Balloon Pokémon, Jigglypuff is shaped like a round ball, with pink skin, large blue or green eyes, catlike ears, and a tuft of fur on its forehead. Its skin is rubbery and stretchy. It can inflate its body like a balloon (usually when it becomes angry; this is accompanied by a distinctive "honk" sound), or flatten its body, much like fellow Nintendo character Kirby. An exact limit to the size it can grow to in this manner is unknown. Jigglypuff are characterized by putting their enemies to sleep by singing a lullaby. Before beginning to sing, they mesmerize the opponent with their soft, glowing eyes, and if they inflate themselves, they can sing for longer periods of time. They can easily adjust the wavelength of their voices to that of the brain waves of a sleeping being, allowing for their pleasing melody to put its audience to sleep. They sing without pausing to take a breath, so if the opponent is resistant to sleeping, they potentially run out of air. Game Freak's staff have noted Jigglypuff as both one of their and the public's favorite Pokemon, in terms of both anime and video game appearances.

In video games
Jigglypuff first appears as one of the 151 species of Pokémon in the Pokémon Red and Blue Versions, and appear in all versions following it. Despite not being a lead character in the Pokemon franchise, game director Masahiro Sakurai selected it to appear in the ''Super Smash Bros. series due to its similarities to Kirby, which allowed the staff to reuse the model and many animations as a base for Jigglypuff.

In anime
In the Pokémon anime series, Jigglypuff is a recurring character who aspires to be a great singer after the inspiration of Ash Ketchum and company. Unfortunately, every potential audience falls asleep before the song finishes. Jigglypuff does not usually choose an appropriate time to sing and has been a hazard many times. Because of this, Ash Ketchum and his companions often find themselves running away from Jigglypuff. It keeps a black marker, its "microphone," and uses it to scribble on anyone who dares to fall asleep while it's performing.

During Jigglypuff's first appearance it was found standing on a stump. Misty tried to capture it with her Staryu, but decided otherwise when she learned that the Jigglypuff could not sing. Brock gave it a piece of fruit which soothed its throat. Now capable of singing, it performed for them, putting everyone within hearing range to sleep. This upset Jigglypuff, which angrily dug into Ash's backpack and pulled out a marker which it used to draw on the faces of everyone who fell asleep. Only on two occasions has Jigglypuff believed that anyone had heard its song to the end: in the first, Jigglypuff realizes that Misty's Psyduck was sleeping with its eyes open, and in the second, a Whismur had heard the song the first time and stayed awake due to its Soundproof ability, but on the second time it was tired and fell asleep. There was once when Jigglypuff sang to two gigantic Pokémon battling each other, but these two Pokémon did not fall asleep, and instead Jigglypuff was knocked away by the energy of their battle. In the Pokémon short Pikachu's Exploration Club, Jigglypuff is parodied by a Marill, which, in the same fashion, puffs up angrily after putting its audience into sleep with its song. In Pokémon Chronicles, Marina has a Jigglypuff, but when the Jigglypuff uses Sing, people aren't affected in part because of Beedrill, because the beating of its wings are too loud.

In 2006, Viz released ten DVDs based around individual Pokémon in celebration of Pokémon's 10th anniversary in the United States. The Pokémon featured were determined by an online poll on Pokémon.com. Out of 45 choices, Jigglypuff's received second place and was released as volume 2, with Pikachu's being the first volume. Another compilation of Pokémon anime episodes, including "The Song of Jigglypuff" in which Jigglypuff is introduced, is available on both VHS and DVD, entitled "Jigglypuff Pop."

In printed adaptations
The Magical Pokémon Journey manga series has a female Jigglypuff as one of the main characters, parodying Hello Kitty, and is introduced to the series in a volume called Cooking With Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff's Magic Lullaby is part of the Pokémon Tales series for very young children. Written by Megumi Hayashibara and illustrated by Kagemaru Himeno, it tells the story of Jigglypuff who wants to make the other Pokémon happy by singing for them. Yet, as usual, her song puts them to sleep, and this makes her very sad until her friend helps her resolve the situation.

Promotion and reception
Jigglypuff is often featured on products where a scene of several Pokémon are shown. An example of this is the full-sized Pokémon 747 aircraft by Boeing. Jigglypuff appeared on the starboard nose of the original white 1998 aircraft, and above the starboard wing of the 1999 blue aircraft. Jigglypuff was also on the nose of the international version of the plane. Jigglypuff has been made into several different toy and plush forms, as well as other items. These include, a four-inch action figure by Tomy Toys, small beanbag plush toy by Hasbro, a Halloween costume by Disguise Costumes, a six-inch plush "Christmas Jigglypuff", and an articulated action figure also by Hasbro.

Described as "perhaps the most ridiculously named Pokemon" of the original 151 by The Virginian-Pilot, Jigglypuff has been noted as one of the series' most popular characters and one of Nintendo's mascots. The book Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon' described Jigglypuff as popular with a young, female audience across the franchise as a whole, attributing said popularity to both the immediate attraction of children to its pink color and its contrast to Pokémon species more popular with young males, such as Squirtle or Charmander. The journal Sex Roles noted that while Jigglypuff's gender in the anime was never explicitly stated, it was identified by a majority of people as a female character in the series. Additionally, it was most often named female Pokémon by children when asked to recall one, which the study attributed to its pink color and ability to sing its opponents to sleep. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy cited Jigglypuff as a tool to use for introducing children to drama, citing it's mannerisms in the anime.