Haywire is Emile/Blair's Zebstrika in Pokémon White. She was the second Pokémon to join his team.
Why Emile Chose Zebstrika[]
Emile found Blitzle and its evolution cool, cute, and one of the better of the Unova Pokémon. Both of its Abilities give it immunity to Electric attacks and it has high Speed as well. He thought it would have good synergy with his starter despite thinking its Attack and Special Attack stats should have been switched given its move set.
Stats[]
Haywire has a Modest Nature, improving Special Attack while hindering Attack, and the Characteristic "Proud of its power", meaning that her highest IV is in Attack. However, despite the Characteristic, She used Charge Beam and Thunderbolt for her Special Attacks while she used Flame Charge for her Physical Attack.
Moves[]
Current Moves[]
- Thunder Wave (Episode 7—Present)
- Overheat (Episode 70—Present)
- Wild Charge (Episode 70—Present)
- Volt Switch (Episode 22—Episode 32, Episode 70—Present)
Former Moves[]
- Tail Whip (Pre-Episode 6—Episode 7)
- Charge (Pre-Episode 6—Episode 8)
- Quick Attack (Pre-Episode 6—Episode 12)
- Shock Wave (Episode 6—Episode 22)
- Spark (Episode 12—Episode 31)
- Discharge (Episode 32—Episode 38)
- Flame Charge (Episode 8—Episode 70)
- Thunderbolt (Episode 38—Episode 70)
- Charge Beam (Episode 31—Episode 70)
Nickname Origin[]
Hay is a common food for grazing animals and wires carry electricity; the full word fits well on many levels for Emile.
Compared to the other options, few people suggested Haywire as a nickname; the first one to do so was Samantha Clayton @Fuyuko_Yuki, and Emile later gave a mention to Shayne Francis Soltis who suggested it within a couple of minutes of Clayton.[1]
Emile was informed a few days after choosing the nickname that the suggestion was copied wholesale from a forum post. He chose not to bring it up in the LP to avoid tainting the Pokémon, but after Haywire's awful performance in many battles, Emile began to believe Haywire was cursed due to her plagiarized nickname.[2]
Honorable Mentions[]
- Seabzzcuit, a pun on the champion Thoroughbred racehorse Seabiscuit and electrical crackling. Among others, Matt Storrs suggested this name.
- Jouliet, a play on the word Joule as well as a common female name. Among others, Ninterd suggested this name.
- Spot, for irony's sake. Among others, Emma Davey suggested this name.
- Éclair, the French word for "lightning" and a reference to the pastry. Among others, Axolotine suggested this name.
- Funnily enough, in Japan 'Éclair' is the real first name of Final Fantasy XIII's protagonist Lightning. In the U.S. versions, it was changed to 'Claire' because of the pastry reference. Had he gone with this one, it would've been his second main-team nickname relating to Final Fantasy XIII, after Eidolon from his Pokémon Platinum team.
- Circuit, a reference to both electricity and horse races. Among others, TrueBreidisc suggested this name.
Trivia[]
- Haywire is Emile's second Electric-type Pokémon team member, the only other being Voltaire.
- Haywire is the seventh of Emile's Pokémon team members to evolve in the same episode as another one, the first six are Bulbapedia, RK9, Vui, Roary, Supernova, and Acrobat. The eighth is Terrabite, who evolved in the same episode as Haywire.
- From Episode 16: The Ham, Burgh to her evolution in Episode 22: Queen Elesa, Haywire was Level 26 (one level away from evolution) for seven consecutive episodes.
- Haywire is the first Pokémon team member in White to not be immediately nicknamed.
- Haywire is the first of Emile's Pokémon team member in White to evolve fully.
- Despite his like of Zebstrika, Emile loathes its back sprite due to the clear view of its overly defined backside.[3]
- Haywire's Hidden Power is Rock-type.[4]
- As a Blitzle, Haywire kept getting shown-up by the rest of the team, which might be why Haywire took seven episodes to evolve.
- Emile basically remarks that his team, Hilbert in particular, is known for showing up any Blitzle. Not only has this not stopped even after evolving, the final battle saw it get shown-up by a teammate yet again, Terrabite the culprit of this one. Then Ottawa shows up everyone by taking out Cynthia solo.
