Looker

Artwork of Looker from Platinum.
Looker
Real Name	Unknown
Species	Human
Affiliation	International Police
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Voiced by	Mick Lauer (2022)
Debut	Pokémon: Platinum Version

Looker is an agent of the International Police who was originally featured as a supporting character in Pokémon: Platinum Version and has gone on to make sporadic appearances in later games of the Pokémon series, most commonly playing a role in post-game storylines.

Background

Looker described himself as a "globe-trotting elite" of the International Police. He kept his real name a secret and went only by his code name of Looker. Looker rarely participated in Pokémon battles. Rather, he seemed to focus his work on espionage and disguising himself, although many of his attempts at stealth would end up failing comically.

Early Years (Sun/Moon)

In the backstory revealed in Pokémon: Sun and Moon, it is shown that Looker was previously known by the codename of 100kr and worked under Nanu. Ten years prior to the events of Sun and Moon, he was sent to the Alola Islands as part of a three-person team containing Nanu and an unnamed Faller (humans who have passed through an Ultra Wormhole in the past, causing Ultra Beasts to be fixated on them). They were sent to eradicate an Ultra Beast, Guzzlord, and although they almost succeeded, Looker hesitated to destroy the creature. This resulted in Guzzlord killing the Faller and escaping, something that Looker has regretted since then.

Shortly afterwards, they discovered the amnesiac Anabel on Poni Island and placed her under the International Police's protection, while hiding from her the fact that she was a Faller. Anabel would later join the organization and eventually became Looker's superior.

Platinum

In Platinum, he went sent to Sinnoh to investigate a rash of Pokémon thefts. He first met Lucas/Dawn as well as Dawn/Lucas at Jubilife City, where the latter spotted him trying to hide behind a set of lampposts. This caused Looker to reveal himself and compliment their powers of observation. He told them some information on his mission and gave them a Vs. Recorder, which he claims he bought to be trendy but had no real need for it. Looker asked the trainers not to speak with him the next time they met in order to help him keep his cover, but he quickly went back on that in case the trainer wanted to report information on suspicious figures (and also because he gets lonely).

Looker confronted Lucas/Dawn when they returned to Jubilife City from Oreburgh, telling them about Pal Pads before leaving the city due to not finding any signs of shady activity, although it seems that he just missed Team Galactic's attempted mugging of Professor Rowan. Looker later heard of Team Galactic activity at the Valley Windworks and came running to help, but Lucas/Dawn had already taken care of them. Looker congratulated the trainer and then left to investigate a tip that Team Galactic had a headquarters in Eterna City. He managed to disguise himself as one of Team Galactic's grunts to infiltrate the headquarters. When Lucas/Dawn stepped by to challenge Jupiter, he briefly dropped his disguise to warn them about one of the building's traps while remaining confident that the young trainer could handle them. Lucas/Dawn was indeed successful, at which point Team Galactic cleared out of that particular building, and Looker departed as well.

At Veilstone City, Looker spent some time looking for leads at the local Game Corner. He once more met with both Lucas and Dawn after they had already beaten a pair of Team Galactic grunts. Looker mulled over how Team Galactic was committing minuscule crimes, but that this also made them more sinister. They investigated the nearby warehouse together, only to find a locked door, although Looker discovered an HM02: Fly that he let the trainer keep. Next, he was troubled by a rumor that he heard at the Game Corner about Team Galactic moving something into Pastoria City. Looker was on his way to investigate this when he ran into Lucas/Dawn on Route 213. Looker learned that the cargo was a Galactic Bomb, and that it was being carried by a grunt who was on the run. Looker felt foolish for not having noticed the Team Galactic agent and raced off to pursue him. Looker lost their trail at the Grand Lake Hotel, however, and the Galactic Bomb was eventually set off, draining Lake Verity.

Looker later obtained Team Galactic's Storage Key and met with Lucas/Dawn to sneak into Team Galactic's Veilstone headquarters through the storage warehouse entrance. Looker went in ahead of them, and the trainer eventually caught up with him eavesdropping on a meeting of Team Galactic members in which the leader Cyrus spoke to them about their plan to use Dialga and Palkia to destroy and remake the world. Looker was left confused about Team Galactic's goals, but he then went off to continue investigating. Looker ended up traveling to Mt. Coronet after Cyrus traveled there to awaken the legendary Pokémon. Looker saw that they had destroyed the painting that had blocked the path to Coronet's summit and acknowledged that they were out of his league. He also saw how great a trainer Lucas/Dawn was and pleaded with them to take down Cyrus, giving them a Black Flute he had found in a previous investigation.

While Lucas/Dawn took care of Cyrus, Looker returned to Team Galactic's hideout for further investigations. He found the notes of the scientist Charon, which helped him to figure out Charon's plans to resurrect Heatran as an extortion scheme once Charon took control of Team Galactic in Cyrus's absence. Looker made his way to the cave in Stark Mountain which contained the Magma Stone and spent hours on stakeout disguised as a boulder until Charon arrived with the last few Galactic grunts, being pursued by Lucas/Dawn and Buck. Looker revealed himself in order to reclaim the Magma Stone, and he called in a pair of officers who arrested Charon. Looker brought Lucas/Dawn and Buck outside to explain what had happened, but he then realized that by removing the Magma Stone from Stark Mountain he may have inadvertently caused Heatran's awakening. To prevent this, Buck returned the stone to its resting place while Looker continued to speak with Lucas/Dawn.

With Charon's arrest, accompanied by the rest of Team Galactic's members going missing or reforming, Looker saw that his work in Sinnoh was done and it was time to leave. He left the trainer with a quote that he had heard from a distant land and understood better now about the sadness of parting ways.

Black/White

Looker was later sent to Unova in Pokémon: Black and White Versions to search for the straggling members of the recently-defeated Team Plasma. His main priority was finding the team's Seven Sages and especially their leader Ghetsis. The local Pokémon League champion, Alder, recommended that he ask Hilbert/Hilda, the young trainer whom had defeated Team Plasma, for help. Looker went to the trainer's house and flaunted his abilities of disguise by disguising himself as the trainer's mom. He then dropped the disguise to disclose his true purpose and asked Black/White to help him search for the Seven Sages. Looker also gave the trainer a Super Rod for an unrelated reason.

Looker showed up every time that Hilbert/Hilda found one of these Sages shortly after they started talking to each other, and he took each of them into custody. However, there was no sign of Ghetsis. After the sixth Sage was arrested, Looker departed to investigate reports of a person resembling Team Plasma's former king N in a distant land with a Dragon-type Pokémon (likely Reshiram or Zekrom).

X/Y

During the postgame of X and Y, Looker traveled to Lumiose City in the Kalos region in order to investigate Xerosic, a scientist with ties to Team Flare. There, he established an office known as the Looker Bureau and posed as a hard-boiled private detective. He called for Kalos's new champion, Calem/Serena, and invited them to work as his assistant. First, he submitted sent them to complete a test of detective skills that he called the Looker Test, which consisted of collecting five Looker Tickets from different parts of the city. Once Calem/Serena succeeded, he officially accepted them as his partner. Though Looker was dry on actual cases at the time, causing him to joke about being out of a job and a paycheck, it was not long before they found work to do.

Their first case consisted of investigated children spending time hanging out in dark alleys. Looker and his partner soon discovered that this was because of Emma, a homeless girl who lived in the alley with her Pokémon, an Espurr named Mimi. He offered her a place to stay at his office, but Mimi was scared off due to being nervous around humans. Looker deployed Calem/Serena to try to befriend Mimi, and once they succeeded, Emma agreed to come with Looker. Looker became Emma's guardian and took her on as an assistant at the Looker Bureau. He enjoyed the family life, while worrying about his lack of money, and he managed to teach Emma how to read, write and do basic arithmetic. He also was able to bond with Mimi over time, as she became less hostile towards him. However, Looker still worried for her because she seemed to be stressed, and he did not know why.

Soon afterwards, a foreign woman came to the bureau to ask something of him. Looker believed that she was asking for tea and so asked his partner to keep her company while he retrieved it. He soon returned with some tea that was apparently expensive, only for Emma to correct him and tell him that her actual problem was her Pokémon being stolen. He then confronted the culprits, the Lumiose Gang, at the Lumiose Station, only to find himself in trouble due to not having any Pokémon to battle them with. Luckily, he was able to call upon Calem/Serena to battle them in his place. After the battle, Emma convinced the gang's leader, Nix, to return the stolen Pokémon. While Looker normally did not like to forgive people who would steal Pokémon, he acknowledged people's ability to evolve just as Pokémon do. Thus, he allowed Nix to visit Emma and become friends with her as long as he swore not to commit any further cruel acts. Nix later promised to reform his gang, which Looker considered to be a Mega Evolution.

Looker continued to have concerns about Emma, who kept on spending more of her time out of the office and not sharing any details about her activities with him. He called his partner to discuss these concerns with them, only to be interrupted by news of vandalism at the Lumiose Museum. Looker had an important appointment to attend to, so he send Calem/Serena to investigate this matter instead. He then called them back to discuss his plan for a sting operation to catch whatever culprits are stealing local Pokémon. With his partner acting as the bait in this operation, they soon confronted the culprit, only to witness her fleeing. This mysterious woman displayed abilities that seemed to be similar to that of a Pokémon as she eluded them. They eventually cornered the thief, only for Mimi to appear to defend her. This caused Looker to realize that the mysterious woman was somehow actually Emma, although she insisted on being called Essentia instead. Essentia attacked Looker and escaped, and he was unable to continue to pursue her at the moment.

He claimed that he would be spending some time in the hospital afterwards, but despite that, he decided to continue the investigation on his own. Looker ultimately joined Calem/Serena in confronting Xerosic at a hidden laboratory within the Lysandre Cafe. It turned out that Emma had come to the cafe in search of part-time work to help out Looker, only to end up acting as a test subject for Xerosic's Expansion Suit, which was controlled remotely by Xerosic and allowed her to perform those superhuman feats. Thus, Xerosic was truly behind Emma's actions as Essentia. Looker then supported Calem/Serena in battling Essentia until Xerosic finally relinquished control, while claiming that Emma was never truly in danger. Because Emma had grown fond of Xerosic, Looker decided that he would allow him to have dinner with them before he would tell her the truth about him.

The next day, Looker left behind a letter in which he confessed his true occupation and that it was time for him to move on from the Kalos region. He considered Calem/Serena to have been the perfect partner and offered them his "cherished code name" of "Looker". He also had completely bought the Looker Plateau so that Emma and Mimi could live there. In his private notes, he expressed that his greatest regret was lying to his partner. Calem/Serena and Emma proceeded to confront Looker as he was preparing to leave with the arrested Xerosic. She offered to join the International Police, but Looker refused that idea and instead named her the new head of the Looker Bureau, believing that she knew Lumioise City well enough to protect it efficiently. He proceeded to entrust Calem/Serena and Emma with the protecting the city's peace and bade them farewell as he left to catch his train with Xerosic.

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

He made only a brief appearance in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. In this, he washed up on the beach of Hoenn's Battle Resort with total amnesia. He was discovered by Brendan/May and spent some time recuperating within a woman's cabin. He gave the trainer an Audinite that he had found in his pocket.

Sun/Moon

Looker appeared in Sun and Moon, where he was working under Anabel at Alola to find a solution to the problem of the appearance of the Ultra Beasts. Looker initially suggested destroying the Ultra Beasts, but Anabel disagreed with these methods and encouraging capturing them instead. The two of them spoke to Sun/Moon about the Ultra Beasts, and the trainer was accepted onto their team after they defeated Anabel in a Pokémon battle. Designated as back-up, Looker proceeded to pass information on the Ultra Beasts on to the trainer and would also provide them with Beast Balls.

Throughout these missions, Looker was also concerned about Anabel's condition as she pushed herself to provide distractions for Sun/Moon, and during the final Ultra Beast mission he sent her to the wrong location in order to give her time to recuperate. He also attempted to suggest feasts at restaurants several times in order to unwind, but they were constantly put off by further Ultra Beast sightings. Nanu also acted as an informant for them, which put Looker on edge as he tried to protect Anabel from the truth about her. When Anabel was not around, Looker and Nanu did confide in Sun/Moon about the incident that occurred ten years ago and Anabel's status as a Faller.

After all of the Ultra Beasts were caught, Looker and Anabel proceeded to congratulate Sun/Moon for their effort. Looker was ready to celebrate with a big feast, but Anabel reminded him that their true final mission was to report to Wicke about this and to thank her for providing the Beast Balls. While on his way there, Looker started to panic when he spotted a mysterious being in the sky and assumed that it was another Ultra Beast, but Wicke assured him that no Ultra Beasts could have remained. He and Anabel then received word that they had approved for vacation time by headquarters, and Looker decided to dedicate this time to trying out Alola's various restaurants and eateries. He then thanked Sun/Moon for managing to keep Anabel safe and gave them 1,000,000 in reward money from the International Police.

In the alternate storyline of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the subplot involving the International Police looking for the Ultra Beasts did not occur, though Looker and Anabel still appeared. He first met up with Sun/Moon on Route 9, where he remarked upon how peaceful Alola was compared to some of the other regions he's visited (referring to the villains' plots from Platinum and Black/White) and gave the trainer a Thunder Stone. He was later seen at Poni Plains, escorting Anabel as her bodyguard while she was on vacation and intending to compete at the Battle Tree. After completing Episode RR, Looker also gave Sun/Moon a Red Card.

Pokémon Roster

Looker is never shown in battle (he mentions that he rarely battles), and his only known Pokémon was a Croagunk that he used to swipe the Magma Stone from Charon in Platinum. In X/Y, he no longer has any Pokémon, and it is implied that his Croagunk died on a previous mission. In Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, he mentions having a new partner that isn't very strong.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Looker and his Croagunk were made available as a playable Sync Pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature starting in August 2022, after having made several non-playable storyline appearances earlier that year. In the game's Main Story, he made appearances in the Villain Arc after Lear sent out a request for the International Police to help take care of villainous activity on the island. Looker was first featured in the chapter "Sinnoh: Dreaming in Darkness", where he helped in the effort against Team Galactic and employed some of his disguises again. He also made a minor appearance in the chapter "Johto: Team Rocket Returns", where he helped to assemble trainers to stand against Giovanni, before playing a role in "Hoenn: Delta of Land, Sea and Sky", in which he investigated the cause behind Groudon and Kyogre's rampage and discovered that Team Rocket were the true culprits. During the Unova chapter, Looker explained to Paulo that not all members of Team Plasma were able and that some were able to truly reform. He later had his own storyline in the Kalos arc, in which rogue members of Team Flare were causing trouble on Pasio, and Malva threatened Looker into helping to round up Team Flare's traitors. He enlisted the help of Diantha for this, but there was a complication as Emma had arrived on the island and wanted to help, despite Looker wanting to keep her away from danger. Diantha ultimately convinced him to let Emma and Paulo help them. Together, they took on members of Team Rocket, who were the true culprits who had infiltrated Team Flare. Emma was endangered during the battle, but Anabel arrived just in time to save her. Team Rocket's admins ultimately escaped, while Looker and Diantha were left feeling concerned about the powerful Pokémon in Lysandre's possession.

In the Alola chapter, he teamed up with Anabel and Nanu to fend off waves of Ultra Beasts, and he decided to treat everyone to a feast afterwards, having recently dined somewhere with [[Rose|"a well-known president"] from the Galar region. During the Galar chapter, Victor had him look into the business dealings of that very president, and Looker was able to discover that he had been working with Giovanni. During "Paulo Interlude: The Last Evil", Looker attended a meeting full of concerned friends of Paulo, after Paulo had taken Lear's Hoopa and assumed control of Team Break. Looker felt that Paulo should have known better and was ready to bring him to justice if he had to, as both a member of the International Police and a friend. Ultimately, Paulo learned his lesson after Giovanni took Hoopa from him in the Final Chapter, which resulted in Team Rocket attempting to conquer Pasio with Legendary Pokémon summoned from Hoopa's rings. Looker attempted to join Anabel and Nanu in fending them off, but his Croagunk was quickly defeated. While it was recovering at a Pokémon Center, he talked with Tina and encouraged Paulo to face his wrongdoings. He then set off to provide support by dispensing Potions to the trainers fighting out in the field while his Croagunk continued to recover. In the aftermath of the incident, Paulo was taken in by the International Police and was set to work under Looker as his probation, using his knowledge of villainous organizations to protect the weak. According to Emma, he had a hard time convincing his bosses to accept this plan.

Looker has also played roles in some of the game's other events. He appeared at the end of the Story Event "Verdant Guardian", where he was searching for a trainer who had been injured in that event. He also investigated Ball Guy's villainous behavior during the Story Event "Galar's Poké Ball Enthusiast", but he considered the case closed when Ball Guy realized the error of his ways without anyone having been hurt. Looker also appeared in the "Solve the Case" Costume Event, in which he took part in a mystery game. Steven Stone acted in the role of the detective, while Looker was assigned to act as a gardener and was disappointed that he did not get to be the detective, even though Agatha pointed out that he could still attempt to solve the case. After the game was solved, it turned out that one of Guzma's Pokémon had been stolen for real by a thief called the Phantom Imaginate. Looker took charge of the investigation now that it was a real crime, but he coordinated with Steven after seeing his detective skills in action. They ultimately caught the thief responsible, although the original Phantom Imaginate (Zinnia, acting as a chivalrous thief) got away. In the "Twin Stars Far Apart" Story Event, Looker did not appear, but it was mentioned that he was busy working on a case with Emma.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Looker has appeared in the Pokémon anime, initially in Team Galactic-related episodes of the Diamond & Pearl series. His first appearance had him on a train with Lake Acuity with Ash's group as well as Team Rocket and distributing box-lunches because he had too many. Because he shared lunch with Jessie and James as well, they became fiercely loyal to him and wound up helping him in the cause against Team Galactic. He disguised himself as a Galactic grunt in one episode, and although at one point Team Galactic held him captive in Fuego Ironworks, he wound up arresting most of Team Galactic's members at the end of their arc. He made several return appearances in episodes based on Black and White, where he he investigated and ultimately arrested Team Plasma, once more calling upon Team Rocket's loyalty for the battle.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Looker was introduced at the end of the Diamond/Pearl arc, where he tried interrogating several Team Galactic members to little success. He was then featured in the Platinum chapter, where he accompanied Platina in her challenge of the Battle Frontier, so that they could learn information about the Distortion World and Team Galactic's new movements from the Frontier Brains. He went on to play roles in the Black/White, Black 2/White 2 and Sun/Moon arcs. This version of Looker was portrayed as fairly competent yet occasionally bumbling, and he was armed with a variety of gadgets which he numbered and declared the identities of as he used them.
• Looker has been featured in several episodes of the Pokémon Generations anime, which is based on events from the games. Two episodes featured him trying to find Giovanni of Team Rocket, based on events from the first two generations. There was also an episode about the events of Stark Mountain from Platinum, although in this version Charon escaped while everyone was busy taking care of Heatran. The last episode featuring him focused on his pursuit of Essentia from X/Y.

Trivia

• His Japanese name is "Hansom", a play on "Handsome", and "Looker" is his American name due to being synonymous. As for his past codename, in Japan it is No. 836 due to the numbers being pronounced the same as 'Hansom'; similarly, his English codename of 100kr is chosen because the letters resemble the spelling of Looker's name in a manner similar to leet speak.
• In X/Y, he is shown to understand Japanese, though not as fluently as he claims; he believes that a woman is asking for tea when she is actually trying to report a Pokémon theft. The languages are swapped in the Japanese version, in which English is shown as the foreign language that Looker struggles with.
• Looker was notable for having made consistent appearances from the fourth through seventh generations. From his first appearance in Platinum until Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, the only games which he did not appear in were HeartGold and SoulSilver and Black 2 and White 2. Discounting remakes of past appearances, only Red, Blue and Giovanni have appeared across different installments in four generations. Cynthia could also count if one counts her HeartGold/SoulSilver as a second generation appearance instead of a fourth generation one.