Games - Banette

	Games - Banette

Banette (ジュペッタ Juppeta in Japanese, Banette in German and Branette in French) is a fictional, puppet-like character in the Pokémon franchise. It is #354 in the National Pokédex.

Banette's name is a portmanteau of bane and marionette, meaning a hand-controlled puppet, or, less likely, the suffix ette, which describes its being short or slight feminine appearence .

Characteristics

The origins of the Banette species are unusually sinister. They are said to come from plush toys that were thrown away, similar to how Grimers and Koffings are formed by industrial waste. Shuppet possesses a discarded doll, growing into and forming Banette, a being which is actually somewhat large for a toy (3 foot 7 inches on average). It is also said that Banette live in garbage dumps of back alleys and wander around looking for the children that disposed of them, probably with not very good intent.

A Banette is filled with strong feelings of hate, which it expresses by laying powerful curses. It gains power to cast those curses by sticking pins into its own body, turning itself into a voodoo doll.

Banette's weakness lies in that its vital force is artificial, since it is an inanimate object infused with a cursed energy. This energy can be removed and effectively exorcized by forcing its zipper-like mouth open. This is probably why, in Pokémon Colosseum, Banette opens its mouth just before fainting, so that the evil spirit can escape before Banette is recalled. The evil inside of it is likely the Shuppet which possessed what once was a doll and is now Banette.

Furthermore, the idea of Banette being a puppet controlled by a spirit is illustrated by Banette's name. As mentioned earlier, its name comes from the word "marionette", a puppet on strings controlled by a human.

In the video games

Banette can be found in the Sky Pillar, in Pokémon Sapphire and Pokémon Emerald. It can also be evolved from a Shuppet. Pokemon XD:Gale of Darkness has one to snag as well.

Banette is the one Ghost-type-only Pokemon built physically, with its above-average Attack. Its Speed is below-average, however, but Banette still remains a good attacker. Some movesets have Banette employ Imprison, Shadow Ball, and Hidden Power. The idea is to use Imprison to prevent the opponent from using any attacks it has (in this case, Shadow Ball and Hidden Power). This is most useful against Ghost-types and other Pokémon whose standard movesets include Shadow Ball.

Phoebe of the Elite Four uses two level 49 female Banette.

In the animé

Banette has appeared in the Pokémon TV series in Japan, but has not appeared in the dub yet. The trainer Harley owned one for use in Deceit and Assist and Rhapsody in Drew.

In other properties

In the card game

Banette has only appeared twice in the Pokémon Trading Card Game
thus far, in EX Hidden Legends as a holographic Stage 1 Psychic Pokémon and in EX Legend Maker as Banette EX.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Banette ]

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