Having been around for 20 years, Pokémon has introduced some memorable characters, including Ash, Misty, May, and Pikachu. One of the longest-running companion characters for the anime was Brock, the gym leader for Pewter City. While Brock has had a storied history on his own and with Ash, some parts of his story remain a mystery.

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The canon surrounding his character can sometimes get confusing, but the basics remain the same. Since his character has gone through so many changes, it is unclear where certain motivations lie. While his eye-opening thing won’t be counted on this list, there are ten other issues that Brock has in his life that don’t make a lick of sense.

10 Quick Change

Brock is the only character, other than Ash, to be a main character in multiple seasons of the show. His early outfit was just what he had on when he left home to join Ash, Misty, and Pikachu. The question then becomes, where does he get most of his clothes. A note here is his shirtlessness is not as prevalent in the anime as it is in the games until Sun and Moon.

It can be assumed that his normal adventuring clothes were bought and put on, but throughout the series, he has regular costume changes, including a maid’s outfit. Ignoring the fact that a fifteen-year-old has one of those, he never actually pulls out any of them from his bag, he just materializes them. They aren’t in his bags because…

9 Culinary Wizard

Brock acts as the housekeeper and caretaker for whatever group he is in. This specifically includes cooking almost every single meal for them, but how? Apparently, he carries close to a whole kitchen in his bag, including pots, pans, and other cooking and camping gear. Let’s believe he does have the strength and stamina to carry all of that for months on end, where is he getting his ingredients?

It is shown countless times that he is making full course meals for both the people and the Pokémon. These meals include soups, ramens, meats, and plenty of other ingredients that he just wouldn’t have on him, and it is well known that he starts cooking before going off, so he isn’t hunting anything.

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8 Bad Parents

In perhaps one of the darker sections of any of our hero’s lives, it is revealed in Pokémon: Chronicles that Brock's parents are not only split-up but also are not involved in Brock’s life to a certain degree. Unlike Misty and Ash, whose full family problems are hidden away, Brock’s are out on the table for everyone to see.

His mother even has a problem with Brock’s choices with the gym. While Brock was away, she turned it into a water-type gym, even though there already is one a city away. Instead of discussing it, she forces him to battle for ownership. For parents with 10 children, they don’t know what is going on.

7 Big Brother-Father

Speaking of those 10 children, Brock, the oldest, had to raise his siblings while only being 15. Being in charge of 9 tiny lives while he was not fully an adult yet impacted his own plans, but he stuck with it until he saw the first chance to leave. And he does.

While not fully on his shoulders, he does just up and leave the next oldest child in charge to take care of the rest of the children. As the perceived father figure of the group, he does as good of a fathering job as his real dad by just leaving.

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6 Woman-Obsessed (When Others Are Around)

The most important aspect of his character ended up being that he is in love with all women. While this character trait is typically played as a moment of humor, it isn’t always there. Every time he is shown being in love with women, he is around people.

It is performative in a way. There are few moments when he is on his own, but the times he has been and meets a beautiful woman, he doesn’t start falling for her until he is around other people, namely Max and Misty. Even when he is liked back, he gives excuses for why he can’t be with these women, so he isn’t actually looking for love, just acting like it.

5 He Just Keeps Showing Up

Brock is the longest-running companion because he keeps showing back up, season after season, but that is never really explained. His first absence during the Orange Islands arc made sense, he was out to study Pokémon and had a chance. He was also written out of the show due to fear of him being a racist caricature, but people hated his replacement Tracey, so he returned. When he did show back up, it was never discussed.

Later in Hoenn, he shows up out of nowhere in Petalburg Forest, ex-machina-ing himself as the savior of Ash, May, and Max. When Ash asks him why he is there, he says that he just didn’t have anything to do back home as his siblings have everything covered.

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4 Pokémon Breeder?

Brock Pokemon treats Pichu while others watch

As a character, Brock needed a trope to fit nicely into at the beginning of the series. Ash was the battler, Misty was the girl, so he needed something. The path Pokémon decided for Brock was Pokémon Breeder. While in the Pokémon World, breeder is similar to caretaker, in the real world, a breeder is someone who breeds.

The show spends a lot of time trying to get Brock into a position where he is caring for Pokémon (and people), but his place as a breeder never really stuck. Instead, he just played the role of the oversexualizing man who takes care of the group. That is like a breeder for the wrong reasons.

3 Books Galore

When our heroes need knowledge about their paths, mythical Pokémon, and general fun facts, they don’t need to look too far as Brock seemingly has all knowledge about every place in the world. Alongside his kitchen set in the bag, he also has endless amounts of maps, books, and other reading materials that would make your library cry.

As the navigator for the group, Brock would typically make sure they all didn’t get lost, though it still happened way too often. It is never explained why he knows most of the information he knows or where he gets his maps and other supplies.

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2 Calm Down

Do you know that friend in the group that constantly needs to be told to chill, or just be shut down by a quick ear pull, poison jab, or knock-out? Hopefully not because that type of friend doesn’t normally exist. Yet, Brock is exactly that friend to Ash. Unable to control his (presumably exaggerated) libido, Brock doesn’t understand how to calm down.

While Tracy, Cilan, and Clement all have their moments of obsession, Brock’s takes place in almost every episode he is in. The fact that someone is there to stop him is truly a heroic action as there is no telling what would happen if they were not there.

1 Gym Leader Non-Notability

Kanto Gym Leaders

One of the most confusing parts of Brock’s character is his gym leader status. While it is understandable that he doesn’t want to be the gym leader, it doesn’t change the fact that, for a good while, he was. The interesting part is, when meeting other gym leaders, none of them recognize him or know who he is.

With only 8 major gyms in the region, there has to be some way of knowing who the gym leader is, especially in a system that requires registration (which we know gyms do thanks to the fighting dojo). Misty has an excuse since she hadn’t yet taken over the Cerulean City Gym, but Brock seems to be a nobody in the eyes of other gym leaders.

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