The Pokémon series spends a lot of time focusing on how its adorable fighting monsters become stronger as they gain experience, but what about their human trainers? Sure, they may not be throwing any punches, but the core characters of the anime and video game franchise leave home at an early age to wander the world on foot and subdue wild beasts that, cute as they may be, can breathe fire, produce high-voltage electricity blasts, and squirt poison.

You have to figure the child mortality rate for would-be Pokémon Masters is astronomical, and those kids that do survive would become incredibly fit by nature of all death-defying physical activity their lifestyle demands. So maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that retailer Bandai has just announced a shirtless figure of one of the most well-known human beings in the Pokémon universe, and it turns out he’s pretty ripped.

So who is this hard-bodied young man? Why, it’s none other than Takeshi, also known as Brock.

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Wait a second, this apparent fitness buff is the girl-crazy traveling companion of main character Satoshi/Ash? How did he go from this…

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…to this?

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Well, it seems that way back in the original Pokémon Red and Green Game Boy games, he shows up to fight the player looking like this.

▼ Apparently while Satoshi was choosing Pikachu, Takeshi forget to pick out all of his clothes.

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That shirtless appearance, plus the fact that Takeshi specializes in rock-type Pokémon, planted the seed for the idea that the character should have muscles as firm as the stony flesh of his Pocket Monsters.

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The figure’s creator describes the design process as:

“When I got a call saying they wanted me to design a Pokémon figure, I thought I’d be designing a Pikachu or another monster, but I was totally wrong. ‘For a kid his age, Takeshi works his muscles hard, but he shouldn’t be completely buffed out, but rather have the look of a boy who likes rocks and stones!’ they told me.”

Can you imagine what someone who “likes rocks” should look like? Neither could the designer, but his client had also told him to refer to Takeshi’s in-game appearance from Red and Green, and the result was what you see here.

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The figure can be ordered here between now and August 31 through the Premium Bandai website for 3,456 yen (US$28). Delivery is scheduled for November, and when you get yours, you can put it on the shelf in your home gym to remind yourself of your dream to be the very best…at working your abs, delts, and biceps.

Source: Premium Bandai via Hachima Kikou
Top image: Premium Bandai (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Premium Bandai, Wikipedia/WarChild, PokéDex