May's Munchlax
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May's Munchlax (Japanese: ハルカのゴンベ Haruka's Gonbe) was the fourth Pokémon that May caught in the Hoenn region, and her fifth overall.
In animation
History
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
Hoenn
May caught Munchlax in Berry, Berry Interesting. As a wild Pokémon, it ended up in trouble when it was framed for stealing and eating other Trainers' Pokéblocks. However, May decided to take the responsibility for its actions, partly due to it being the only Pokémon May could find that liked her custom Pokéblocks, "May's Purple Surprise", so she decided to catch it. Although she attempted to battle it, its accidental dodging skills were too much trouble for Combusken. After it was proved innocent and became distracted by eating some falling Pokéblocks, May threw a Poké Ball at it, which was also eaten. Nevertheless, the Poké Ball was activated from inside Munchlax, and it was successfully caught.
Munchlax seemed to take a liking to Max, spending a lot of time with him. Munchlax was also the only one of May's Pokémon that was not used in her first Grand Festival. During the Festival when Skitty used Assist to show off all the moves of May's team, one of the moves it used was a Solar Beam, hinting it may have been Munchlax's to her traveling partners, which proved true.
Kanto
Munchlax was one of the Pokémon May took with her when she traveled through the Kanto region. In A Real Cleffa Hanger, Munchlax was shown to know Metronome. In On Cloud Arcanine, after using it to use Extreme Speed, Munchlax quickly ate the Pecha Berries on the trees instead of attacking the Arcanine it was supposed to. In May's Egg-Cellent Adventure, Munchlax took part in its first battle against Nicolette's Vileplume, where it was revealed to know Focus Punch and Solar Beam.
Munchlax teamed up with Max in Off the Unbeaten Path to compete in the Pokémon Orienteering Contest. Motivated by the reward of food, Munchlax raced ahead at full speed, ignoring Max's pleas to slow down. The two later meet up with May and Eevee, who still need one more checkpoint to win. While discussing it, Jessie and Team Rocket show up and cut the bridge they're standing on. Ash and Brock show up just in time to save them, after which they are approached by Swellow, who informed them Team Rocket was up to no good. Due to this, the group ended up abandoning the race.
Munchlax made its Pokémon Contest debut in Harley Rides Again, where it was used in the Contest Battles of the Wisteria Contest. Using its Solar Beam attack, it was able to knock out a Politoed, advancing May to the final round. There, it went up against Harley's Octillery. It started the battle with a Focus Punch, however, Octillery was able to avoid the attack by jumping in the air and landing on top of Munchlax's face. The Water-type Pokémon proceeded with Constrict to prevent Munchlax from using any other attacks before firing its signature move, Octazooka. When Munchlax was charging Solar Beam, Octillery used Sludge Bomb, hitting the Big Eater Pokémon and causing an explosion. After that, May called for Metronome, which resulted in Octillery being damaged by a powerful Thunder attack. However, it was able to use Rest to put itself to sleep and recover its health. Although Munchlax attacked Octillery with Tackle and Focus Punch while it was sleeping, it woke up fully restored and fired Octazooka. As Munchlax was no longer able to continue, the Contest Judges called Battle Off, resulting in a loss for May.
In Spontaneous Combusken!, Munchlax participated in the Appeals Round of the Chrysanthemum Contest. Munchlax and May made use of the enhancement Solar Beam received from the sun before taking their chances with Metronome. The result was a Rest attack, though May had come prepared with some Pink Surprise Pokéblocks, which woke Munchlax up and compelled it to show a magnificent jump. Munchlax's efforts put May through to the second round.
For the Kanto Grand Festival, Munchlax was used for one of the Appeals Rounds and two of the battle rounds. Its appeal performance during Thinning the Hoard!, had it using Solar Beam and shaping it into a sphere and launching it into the air, and then hitting it with Focus Punch, which makes the sunlight slowly dissipates into the atmosphere creating a glimmering effect, as well as a bell-like chime. This performance was received well enough to advance May to the Battle Stage. Munchlax was used for May's battle against Harley in the same episode. It battled against Harley's Cacturne and Wigglytuff, alongside Eevee; it showed great battling skills and impressive synchronicity with Eevee, being able to combine its attacks with Eevee's to take down Harley's Pokémon and advance May to the quarterfinals.
In Channeling the Battle Zone!, Munchlax faced Solidad's Pidgeot and Slowbro in the semifinals, battling along with Combusken. As Solidad had been observing May's battling style, she was able to evade their attacks and defeat them with relative ease, leaving May at the Top 4 of the Grand Festival.
Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
Munchlax continued traveling with May when she left to compete in Pokémon Contests in Johto, and stayed with her when she returned to participate the Wallace Cup in A Full Course Tag Battle!. May called it out to look for the stolen food along with Kylie's Munchlax, due to its powerful ability to sense food. Nonetheless, Munchlax was delighted to see Pikachu once again. Within a few minutes, it successfully located the stolen refrigerator and led the gang to it, unlike the other Munchlax. Kylie was highly impressed with how well-trained May's Munchlax is.
In Staging a Heroes' Welcome! , Munchlax was seen eating alongside Piplup and their respective Trainers just moments before the start of Wallace Cup.
Personality and characteristics
True to its species, Munchlax loves to eat. Its love for food is so great that it has no qualms about eating others' food whether it belongs to people or Pokémon. Another known trait is that Munchlax's hunger will usually distract it when May is attempting to catch a Pokémon, such as in Rough, Tough Jigglypuff, when May attempted to catch a Jigglypuff; and On Cloud Arcanine, when she wanted to add a wild Arcanine to her team. However, its love for food was proven to be helpful at times, such as in Spontaneous Combusken!, in which it instantly woke up for May's food after using Rest as a result of Metronome during the Appeals Round of the Chrysanthemum Contest.
Munchlax is a powerful battler with equally powerful moves such as Focus Punch and Solar Beam. Munchlax enjoys performing in Pokémon Contests and is always giving full effort in a performance. Due to May's trust in luck, it would usually use Metronome to help or worsen a bad situation.
In addition to May, Munchlax has also been shown to enjoy the company of Max and accept commands from him if May isn't around. As is typical for its species, Munchlax has a great sense of smell, as demonstrated in A Full Course Tag Battle!, where May used it to track down the food stolen from the Seven Stars Restaurant.
Moves used
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| A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves. | |||||||||||||||||||
Moves used via Metronome
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| A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves. | |||||||
Moves improvised
| Picture | First Used In | Moves Involved | Partnered With |
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Thinning the Hoard! | Shadow Ball and Focus Punch | May's Eevee |
| Description: Eevee would use Shadow Ball and Munchlax would use Focus Punch. The energy from the Focus Punch would fuse with the Shadow Ball and hit the opponent with the power of the Shadow Ball and the Focus Punch. | |||
In the games
In the spin-off games
Pokémon: Wobbuffet Fell Down!
Munchlax appears in Pokémon: Wobbuffet Fell Down!.
In the manga
Ash & Pikachu
Munchlax appeared in A Clash Of Wills!! Eternal Rivals?!.
In the TCG
Below is a list of all cards featuring May's Munchlax.
| May's Munchlax Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats. | |||||||
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| Card | Type | English Expansion |
Rarity | # | Japanese Expansion |
Rarity | # |
| May's Munchlax | 
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Movie Commemoration VS Pack: Aura's Lucario | 008/020 | ||||
Trivia
- Munchlax was the first Generation IV Pokémon to be caught by a main character.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Munchlax.
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
