A lot of stuff has gone down on the Pokemon TV series over the years, but the one thing still sticks out in my mind after many seasons of new characters, an ever-growing roster of ridiculous creatures, and different settings with weird names is why Brock was suddenly dropped from the show like a sack of bricks during the Orange Islands saga (i.e the second season).
Having been around since the early days of Pokemon, having Brock disappear out of the blue was a bit of a left field move considering the character’s popularity among fans.
As it turns out, the show’s producers actually got rid of Brock due to concerns of racism.
According to Masamitsu Hidaka, a former Pokemon anime director and storyboard artist, when Pokemon started really taking off around the world, the producers grew worried that Americans and other Western audiences would see Brock’s eye design as a racial stereotype, even though there hadn’t been a single complaint yet.
But rather than risk any possible backlash, the Pokemon producers jumped the gun and quickly shuffled him out of the picture by having him shack up with some dreamy female professor.
After getting rid of Brock, the show needed a new character to fill the void and the producers decided to not take any chances. To that effect, they created Tracey Sketchit, a “tall, white, Anglo-looking character,” who shares many similar characteristics as Brock and is essentially the same character bar some minor changes and the eyes.
Despite the preemptive move to cover any potential racism complaints, the Pokemon producers quickly realised that no one actually gave a crap what Brock looked like. Fans loved the character and all his knowledgeable, skirt-chasing charm so the producers sheepishly brought him back the following season and shuffled Tracy off somewhere else.
This all sounds pretty ridiculous but it’s not hard to see why the producers would do what they did with Brock and Tracey, especially with the lucrative American market on the line. No Pokemon or beloved character can withstand the might of money.
But just like how the TV show’s depressing original ending didn’t come to fruition, this whole Brock thing ultimately worked out well in the end for Pokemon and there were no racism complaints to be found, presumably because all those complaints were reserved for Jynx.