Grand Oak: The Researcher Whose Lab Is an App

He's the only researcher in the series you never meet anywhere but in front of a webcam. Grand Oak has no hometown, no lab bench and no assistants: his field of study is an online service, Pokémon HOME, which he presents as his own invention. He welcomes the Trainer who signs up, explains where their Pokémon are stored, and immediately hands them a collection mission.

Contents

• A professor without a lab
• A worldwide Pokédex he can't fill on his own
• The case of the Trainer with nothing to deposit
• A family resemblance nothing explains
• Grand Oak at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A professor without a lab

Grand Oak introduces himself as the designer of Pokémon HOME and as the voice that walks newcomers through how it works. His whole role comes down to explaining the storage system: where deposited creatures end up, how to find them again, and what the app can do with them.

The way his arrival is staged already says a lot about the character. He hails the sign-up as a personal victory, realizes he's left his camera off, hunts for the button out loud, then introduces himself as one of the greatest Pokémon experts the world has ever known. Nobody else gives him that title.

He doesn't stay alone on stage, though. Practical questions get passed on to Poké Boy, who waits for the Trainer in the home menu. Grand Oak sets the framework and gives the instructions; day-to-day assistance is delegated from the very first minute.

A worldwide Pokédex he can't fill on his own

His stated ambition is outsized and perfectly clear: to gather every species in the world in a single Pokédex. That's the National Pokédex built into the app, and he admits outright that he won't get there on his own.

Hence the request he makes of the player right at sign-up: bring as many Pokémon as possible into the space he has built. The Trainer isn't a customer of the service but its supplier — a reversal that scales up to the whole network the age-old request of the Pokémon Professors, the ones who send a child out to fill in their records for them.

In the mobile app's introduction, he details the tools designed to make the job easier: trading with players all over the world, and Mystery Gift, two ways in that don't require any game in progress. For the curious, he adds the option of checking the worldwide battle rankings.

The case of the Trainer with nothing to deposit

The script plans for the awkward scenario: a new user who doesn't own a single Pokémon. Grand Oak settles it by giving them one, with the mock reluctance of a shopkeeper making an exception for the customer of the day.

The choice on offer is Kanto's founding trio: Bulbasaur the Seed Pokémon, Charmander the Lizard Pokémon, or Squirtle the Tiny Turtle Pokémon. The first-partner ritual is thus replayed inside a storage app, far from any lab.

One detail sets this gift apart from the usual opening scene, though: all three come with their Hidden Ability, the one that doesn't show up on an ordinary specimen of the species. The welcome gesture is also a small favor to collectors.

🌱 The welcome trio has its own section: check out our Pokémon starters.

A family resemblance nothing explains

His look is described with care: long gray hair and green glasses, whose frames seem to echo the shape of the app's trading system. The character wears his service on his face.

That leaves the question the source raises without answering. The resemblance to Professor Oak is striking, but the connection between the two men is never established: no family tie, no double, no acknowledged namesake. The game leaves it to the player to make the connection.

The localized versions, for their part, don't bother with discretion: Grand Oak in English, Gran Oak in Spanish, Maxi Oak in Italian, Giga-Eich in German. Everywhere, a size superlative attached to the old professor's surname — French simply went with "Big": Big Chen, Chen being Professor Oak's French name.

Grand Oak at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Grand Oak?
  A Pokémon researcher who presents himself as the creator of Pokémon HOME. He welcomes new users, explains how Pokémon storage works and asks them to help fill the app's National Pokédex.
• Which Pokémon does Grand Oak give away?
  A Kanto starter of the player's choice: Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle. The gift is only offered to Trainers who don't have any Pokémon yet, and all three species come with their Hidden Ability.
• Is Grand Oak related to Professor Oak?
  Nothing says so. The resemblance between the two is obvious, and the character's names in other languages all play on the professor's, but no source specifies what connection might link them.
• What does Grand Oak do in Pokémon HOME?
  He acts as the welcome guide. He lays out how the service works, lists ways to get Pokémon such as worldwide trading and Mystery Gift, then refers the player to Poké Boy for any further questions.

In short

Grand Oak is a new kind of professor: his region is a server and his assistants are the Trainers themselves. The character has no backstory, no team, no story arc; what he has is an invention, a dream of a complete inventory, and a huckster's knack for recruiting collaborators by the millions. It may be the most honest version of what Professors have always asked of the player.