| abstract | - The youngest of four sisters, she hasn't been blessed with her sisters' looks or charisma...luckily, however, she got all of the talent at monster battles and deadpan snark. Originally rather temperamental, with a crush on Ash that she covered with strong Tsundere tendencies; after acquiring Togepi - an infant Pokémon requiring a great deal of care - she calmed down considerably. Still has a strong fanbase that's rather bitter about her replacement by May and Dawn. Tropes involving her and her Pokémon include:
* Action Girl
* A Mini-Arc In The Limelight: Not Pokemon Chronicles but rather the first 8 episodes of The Whirl Islands Mini-Arc Possibly compensation for her having a bus reservation for sometime in the following year.
* Badass: A few times. In fact, more than a few times in the original series, Ash and his friends would either have not succeeded in their goal or actually end up killed, even both, had it not been for her.
* Badass Adorable
* Bare Your Midriff
* Between My Legs: In the episode "Forest Grumps" her legs are used as framing during her stand-off with James and Meowth.
* Big Eater: As seen in "The Breeding Center Secret".
* Boyish Short Hair: She is a tomboy and has short hair that's combined with Tomboyish Ponytail.
* Butt Monkey: She's sometimes made the butt of the joke by Ash and co. in earlier episodes, and gets into more perils than the rest of the crew (once, she was Brainwashed into thinking she was a Seel). Also that her sisters look down on her. Doesn't help that she's stuck with Psyduck, which gives her a lot of the troubles.
* Slapstick Knows No Gender: She is also not free from any physical humor; "Primeape Goes Bananas" features her getting her face kicked to the ground by an angry Mankey, and "Pokemon Fashion Flash" has her getting barbequed by Vulpix's fire not once, but twice. The latter episode also had her getting a silly makeover at which Ash laughed himself sick upon seeing it. Butt Monkey indeed.
* Characterization Marches On: In "Bye Bye Butterfree", she (very briefly) takes Brock's going lovesick in stride and treats it as a joke, instead of using the Ear Ache Running Gag that she'd later be perfecting.
* The Chick: Of the "Original Series" Five-Man Band.
* Compressed Vice: Was there ever any special fear of Gyarados before the Chronicles episode where she overcame it? There was an episode where she expressed her disdain for being identified as a Gyarados-type in a fake fortune book. It almost seemed as she hated them. Likewise, she did show concern for the appearance of many Gyarados after escaping the St. Anne.
* Cordon Bleugh Chef: The best way to describe how her stew in the Johto episode "Sick Daze" was so bad that not even Ash could eat it when she, earlier in the series, A: created a medicine from Salveyo Weed for Ash, Tracey, and Jessie's Stun Spore sickness, and B: was hinted to have the cooking in Episodes 3 and 4.
* Demon Head: She sometimes does this when she gets mad at Ash.
* Distressed Damsel: What she's made to look like by Meowth in episode 12. However, if you watch past the point where Ash returns with the Super Potion (fact is, true fans should have done so by now), she reveals that the Squirtle Squad wasn't really going to kill her (in the Japanese version) or turn her into a purplenette (in the English version). Ironically, Misty actually volunteered to get the super potion in the former upon learning this demand.
* Played straight in "Pokémon Fashion Flash".
* Early-Bird Cameo: However, Misty herself appeared in the first episode -- and became a main character -- before she was revealed to be the second Gym Leader.
* Fiery Redhead
* Floral Theme Naming: Sakura (cherry blossom), Ayame (iris), Botan (peony), Kasumi (baby's breath or mist). The English version keeps the joke by naming the three older girls Daisy, Violet and Lily, but chose to go for preserving the pun on Misty's favorite type over the theme name. It does, however, retain how she's the odd one out.
* Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Misty is the responsible sibling with regards to taking care of and managing the gym better than all three of her sisters. Daisy has gotten a bit better about it, but Misty is never away from the gym too long before her sisters need her to come back.
* Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Phlegmatic (phlegm).
* The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With her three sisters. Things seem a touch better of late, at least with eldest sister Daisy.
* Green Is Blue: Her eyes vary between being green or blue (or sometimes both at the same time) between the episodes; it was especially prominent before the anime switched over to digital color. Nowadays it seems that they've settled on green, like her most recent official game artwork.
* ...making her a Green Eyed Red Head
* Hair Decorations: Either the hair tie she uses for her side ponytail or the pearl headband of her famed mermaid costume qualifies.
* Hero Stole My Bike: Ash did it in the first episode, culminating in the series' most famous Running Gag.
* Inferiority Superiority Complex: To an extent. She's more open about her inferiority complex than most examples in that she will (albeit rarely) talk about her experiences as the youngest of her sisters, but other than that her quick-tempered nature and violent tendencies from early on were likely due to living in their shadows.
* And funnily enough, Misty is the only one of them who has any real passion for training Pokemon while her sisters are more obsessed with their fame as water ballet performers.
* Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not an extreme case but her treatment of Ash wasn't the best for someone who was just starting out (she slapped the guy on their first meeting for "not taking care of his Pikachu" despite the fact that 1) he was carrying it 2) He showed concern over it and 3) she didn't even bother to get his side of the story or wonder why they were in the river in the first place. Even diehard fans called lack of sense for that one). Yeah Ash can be a bonehead sometimes but when he was really trying and got a reward for his selflessness she usually would be quick to shoot him down (Brock and her sister giving him a medal for winning on a technically, how Charizard joined, etc). That said she did tone down over time as the series continued.
* Kicked Upstairs: Post-season 5, she has effectively became a Gym Leader due to her sisters being out of town for three months, and it is heavily implied that she has to lose to rookies quite a bit in order to be this in a manner that is very similar to Team Rocket.
* The Kirk
* The Lancer: Of the "Original Series" Five-Man Band.
* Letting Her Hair Down: A few different times, much to the delight of fans, though the instance most people remember is her mermaid getup, in which it was most probably a wig. She does let her down for real on occasion, though.
* Little Miss Snarker
* Mama Bear: Do not threaten Togepi.
* Meaningful Name
* My Friends and Zoidberg: "Three Sensational Sisters and one runt!" according to her sisters.
* Only One Name
* Parental Abandonment: And the triplets don't do a good job of looking after the gym or their little sister.
* Parent Service: Her sisters are named as this.
* Precision F-Strike: In the Japanese version, her comment about Satoshi's heaven (catching his first Pokémon) being her hell (bugs) in episode 3.
* Promotion to Parent: To Togepi, and later Azurill.
* Put on a Bus: Took over as her city's Gym Leader at the end of Johto.
* Red Headed Heroine
* The Runt At the End: Fits the definition perfectly, Odd Name Out and all. She's often teased as such by her sisters, but of course, Youngest Child Wins, and she actually happens to be the best at training Pokemon among the four.
* Shorttank: The goddamn trope picture.
* She's Got Legs
* Talking the Monster to Death: Ended up doing this in an early episode that featured a gigantic Tentacruel that was destroying the city that the heroes were currently in, as it was angry that humans were polluting its waters.
* Talking to Herself: Rachael Lillis also did Jessie and Jigglypuff.
* Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Sometimes has overblown fantasies about love and romance, and takes it upon herself to play matchmaker on more than one occasion.
* This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman: While she'd be there with everyone else in stopping the Crisis of the Week/Team Rocket, she wouldn't compete in sporting competitions unless they were either water-themed or girl-themed. Granted, Ash would compete in the former as well, but Misty would outdo him in those cases.
* Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Daisy's Girly Girl.
* She also acts the Tomboy to her successor May's Girly Girl.
* Tomboyish Ponytail
* Tsundere: Prior to getting Togepi anyway. Her "motherly" tendencies were also implied in other episodes, even the first episode when she tried to check up on Pikachu. All Togepi did was expand on it.
* Who Wears Short Shorts?
* Why Did It Have To Be Bug Type Pokémon? And for a little bit, Why Did It Have To Be Gyarados?
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