Mela

About

Mela is a character in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. She heads the Team Star Fire Crew, which appears to be an antagonistic gang in the upcoming games. After her reveal in a trailer on September 7th, 2022, social media quickly began creating fan art for the character and making jokes about her excessively large boots.

Origin

On September 7th, 2022, Mela appeared in a trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet posted by The Pokémon Company on social media (shown below).^[1]

The Pokémon Company also posted her official artwork (shown below) and a description of the character to its website^[2] that day.

Her description reads:

Mela is the boss of Team Star’s Fire crew, the Schedar Squad. As the team’s best all-rounder, Mela fixes any and every problem thrown her way, though her methods are heavy-handed. She leaves a forceful and gruff impression, but her steadfast devotion to completing anything she puts her mind to has earned her the trust of her teammates.

Spread

Immediately after the trailer was published, artists quickly published drawings of the character. For example, user @sextant0yulijj^[3] posted art that gained over 460 retweets and 1,400 likes in less than one day (shown below, left). User @Neonscian^[4] posted art that gained over 110 retweets and 390 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Others made jokes about Mela's design, particularly her large boots. User UltimaShadowX posted a video edit crossing Mela's design with a scene from SpongeBob SquarePants, gaining over 280 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below).

On @yurucrab^[5] tweeted a He Boot Too Big For He Gotdamn Feet joke about Mela, gaining over 10 retweets and 40 likes in five hours (shown below, left). User @MarciKatUWU^[6] posted a Why Do We Have Hands meme about Mela, gaining over 40 retweets and 130 likes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References