I’m Luke Summerhayes and I love Scraggy.
People have been wearing trousers, or pants to my American listeners, for centuries, and in that time the fashion for wearing them loose or tight-fitting has wavered back and forth. The one constant is that whichever is popular and fashionable at a given time will inspire a counter-culture of wearing the opposite.
For my lifetime, and much of the past century, tight-fitting or at the very least well-fitting pants have been the norm, while baggier and looser options have been rebellious. In the 1940s, rebellion against wartime fabric rationing saw some communities wear zoot suits. When I was a child in the 90s, oversized jeans were worn by sakteboarders and then later low-hanging pants were popular in hip-hop. I often heard the rumor that this particular trend originated from the American Prison System, and to be honest I still tend to wear my jeans in a way that shows a little more underwear than is socially acceptable in Japan.
Scraggy is a fighting and dark type Pokémon, a humanoid reptile with baggy skin around its legs that resembles sagging pants. Most animals shed their outer layers as they grow. In humans, we drop small amounts of dead skin constantly. Birds and furry mammals might shed feathers or hairs at specific times, and many reptiles remove whole outer skins like little outfits. A lizard halfway through shedding skin can resemble a lizard wearing a onesie of a different colored lizard, and that translates nicely to this Pokémon’s little outfit.
Black
Its skin has a rubbery elasticity, so it can reduce damage by defensively pulling its skin up to its neck.

Scarlet
It stretches its saggy skin up to its neck to protect itself. Among Scraggy, individuals with saggier skin apparently garner more respect.

Scraggy’s stretchy skin was particularly on display in the Pokétoons short which the company released to youtube, mimicking old Disney-esque 1930s animation.
White
It immediately headbutts anyone that makes eye contact with it. Its skull is massively thick.
Black 2
Proud of its sturdy skull, it suddenly headbutts everything, but its weight makes it unstable, too.
White 2

This desire for a fight, on the other hand, was displayed in the Pokémon Anime, where Ash had a Scraggy who would pick fights with anyone.
The name Scraggy takes this scrappy nature and combines it with baggy, or perhaps saggy, in reference to its pant-like skin. The Japanese name is Zurugu, with Zurui being sly and Zururu being the onomatopoeia for dragging.
Shield
It protects itself with its durable skin. It's thought that this Pokémon will evolve once its skin has completely stretched out.

We can see this in action when, at level 39, Scraggy evolves into Scrafty.
Scrafty is a bigger, meaner lizard, and now has a crest like a mohawk, and some of its skin has formed what resembles a hooded top to go along with the sagging trousers. This haircut and article of clothing are both also often associated with rebellious punks or miscreants.
Black 2
It pulls up its shed skin to protect itself while it kicks. The bigger the crest, the more respected it is.
White 2

In the UK when I was younger, the term “hoody” could refer either to the hooded sweatshirt itself or a stereotypical young troublemaker who might wear one. Black and White’s Pokédex entries describe total hoody behaviour.
Black
Groups of them beat up anything that enter their territory. Each can spit acidic liquid from its mouth.
White
It can smash concrete blocks with its kicking attacks. The one with the biggest crest is the group leader.
Pokémon Ultra Sun, though, shows a different understanding of gang culture.
Ultra Sun
This Pokémon may be rude, but it takes very good care of its family, its friends, and its turf.
The name Scrafty upgrades Scraggy to be a crafty fighter, bringing it more in line with the Japanese names, which continue the Zurui angle along with perhaps skin or the Japanese for hood, zukin, leaving us with Zuruzukin.
The Pokémon’s tactics are crafty. Interestingly, Scraggy’s descriptions of having very strong skin are probably more relevant than Scrafty’s tall tales of powerful kicks. The Pokémon has mediocre speed and attack stats, but decent defence and special defence, giving it time to use moves like Dragon Dance to build up to using those aggressive dark and fighting moves.
When British Prime Minister David Cameron made some empty promises to tackle the routes of crime instead of being hard on offenders, he implored the nation to Hug a Hoodie. I don’t know if I’d advise that, but I would hug these troublesome lizards.
Music for Luke Loves Pokémon is composed by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork for the show is by Katie Groves. Writing, Producing and Editing is by me, Luke Summerhayes. Funding is provided by my lovely listeners. If you’d like to join them, to help keep the show online and find other podcasts by me and my pals, head over to Patreon.com/PodcastioPodcastius.
Coming up are sigilyph and Yamask, so if you have thoughts about those or any other monsters, hit me up with a DM @LukeLovesPKMN or an email to LukeLovesPKMN@Gmail.com. And of course, I’d love if you could leave a 5-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Scraggy. And remember. I love you too.