Folly: the Cipher Peon who dreamed of a normal life

Folly never works alone. This Cipher Peon always drags Trudly along behind him, and the pair play the comic duo of the Orre region. From Pokémon Colosseum to Pokémon XD, he racks up botched kidnappings, lost battles and bright ideas that backfire on him. He's also the only one of the two to wonder whether he might have something better to do with his life.

Contents

• A Henchman Who Never Shows Up Alone
• Pokémon Colosseum: A Kidnapping Gone Wrong
• From the Phenac City Mayor's House to the Pyrite Town Jail
• Pokémon XD: A Two-Member Team Miror
• His Team and How He Battles
• What This Peon Really Brings to the Story
• Folly at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Henchman Who Never Shows Up Alone

Folly sits at the very bottom of the hierarchy of Cipher, the organization wreaking havoc in the Orre region. He's nothing more than a lowly Peon there, taking orders from Miror B., and not a single mission he's given ever gets finished.

His look marks him from the start as a bit player: his outfit copies that of the Hunter Trainer class, an extra's uniform rather than a leader's costume. The portrait fits the character, more concerned with looking the part than truly dangerous once the Poké Balls come out.

Above all, he never goes anywhere without Trudly. The two men form an inseparable pair, and every one of their appearances runs on this two-man routine: one makes a remark, the other piles on, and the player ends up beating them one after the other.

Pokémon Colosseum: A Kidnapping Gone Wrong

The duo literally opens the game. You see them leaving the Outskirt Stand chatting about their meal, then climbing into a hover truck with what they call their catch of the day. What they're carrying in a sack is actually a person.

The captive's name is Rui, and she was snatched in Pyrite Town for a specific reason: she had just spotted the very first Shadow Pokémon in the game, Trudly's Makuhita. So the abduction isn't some whim of idle Peons, but a clumsy attempt to cover up a leak.

Things go sour in Phenac City, where the two men are caught with a sack that wriggles and protests. Folly sizes up the former Team Snagem member who's come to interrupt them, then starts a battle he thinks is already won, two Whismur at the ready. The racket draws the locals, and the kidnappers bolt, leaving their target behind.

From the Phenac City Mayor's House to the Pyrite Town Jail

Folly and Trudly come back in force, this time with Miror B., Bluno, Rosso and Verde in tow, right into Mayor Es Cade's home. Their boss orders them to take Rui back to Pyrite Town, then slips away: they alone have to face the hero at the Mayor's House. Folly goes down first, Trudly right after.

Then comes the scene that defines the character. Fearing Miror B.'s wrath far more than the law, the two Peons turn themselves in to the police and end up locked in the Pyrite Town jail. They put their surrender down to their truck going missing, stolen, and beg that nobody tell their boss.

Their stay drags on. The two accomplices are later moved to separate cells, with Reath and Ferma taking over theirs, and they don't leave until the events at Realgam Tower. Folly then heads back to the Phenac City Mayor's House to issue one last challenge.

Pokémon XD: A Two-Member Team Miror

When Folly shows up again, Cipher is no longer his employer. Miror B. has set up his own gang, Team Miror, and the entire roster boils down to Folly and Trudly. The organization's size says a lot about how serious the whole venture is.

With time on their hands, the two men keep busy by keeping tabs on their own boss. They've attached a transmitter to his afro and follow his comings and goings on the Miror Radar, putting on a perfectly innocent face every time the device starts beeping. The setup doesn't hold up for long: after Miror B.'s defeat at the Cave Poké Spot, clumsy Folly drops the receiver, which a young Trainer picks up on the spot — and tracking down the boss becomes a headache all over again.

Their other big move also falls flat. They had stolen most of the Battle CDs from Realgam Tower, only to throw them all away on discovering they held nothing but virtual Pokémon. The game even turns this into a handy marker for the player: spotting Folly and Trudly loitering around a Colosseum, in Pyrite Town or at Realgam Tower, means Miror B. is taking part.

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His Team and How He Battles

Four species are on record for Folly, split into two families. On one side, Whismur and Exploud, on the other Lotad and Ludicolo. Nothing rare, nothing exotic: a very ordinary lineup, cut out for an early-game opponent.

That choice serves a purpose. Folly is the player's yardstick: his two Whismur kick things off in Phenac City, and his defeat wrings from him the remark that he's clearly not dealing with an ordinary Trainer. The battle is as much a tutorial in disguise as a story scene.

The character then comes back at regular intervals, always in the same role. He walks up to the protagonist himself to start the battle, always goes before Trudly outside the mayor's office, and cheerfully offers a rematch as many times as you like. One final battle still awaits him in the post-game.

What This Peon Really Brings to the Story

His main appeal is comedy, and it runs entirely on fear. Folly is terrified of what Miror B. and his organization would do to him at the slightest failure, which leads to absurd situations: voluntarily surrendering to the police to escape the boss, planting a tracker on that same boss, and money thrown away for nothing in the hope of landing a rare Pokémon.

He's also, without meaning to be, a source of intel. It's from him that the player learns Miror B. is only the least important of the group's leaders and that above him stand far more dangerous people. The revelation comes from a character who's already been beaten several times, which makes it all the more credible: he talks too much, as usual.

Finally, he carries the duo's only hint of character growth. Once out of Cipher, he openly worries about his future and talks about changing his way of life, while Trudly reminds him of the boss's ambition: getting his hands on every last Pokémon on the planet. Folly, for his part, mostly longs for an ordinary life and a real bed.

Folly at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Folly in Pokémon Colosseum?
  A Cipher Peon taking orders from Miror B. He opens the game by kidnapping Rui with his sidekick Trudly, then keeps coming back as an opponent throughout the adventure.
• Why do Folly and Trudly turn themselves in to the police?
  Because they fear Miror B.'s retaliation more than prison. With their truck stolen, they'd rather give themselves up in Pyrite Town, and they ask that nobody say a word to their boss.
• Which Pokémon does Folly use?
  Four species are on record: Whismur, Exploud, Lotad and Ludicolo. It's two Whismur that open his very first battle, in Phenac City.
• What is Team Miror?
  The gang Miror B. sets up in Pokémon XD, after Cipher. It has only two members, Folly and Trudly, who spend most of their time keeping tabs on their boss.
• Does Folly want to quit crime?
  He hints at it several times in Pokémon XD. More clear-eyed than Trudly about their situation, he worries about his future and raises the idea of changing his way of life.

In short

Folly has no plan and no ambition: he follows orders, he fails, and he fears his boss more than the police. His only real initiative is spying on his own boss, and it ends with a receiver falling into the opponent's hands. Yet he's the one who gives the player the most useful information about the organization's true size, and the only one in the duo who hints he'd like to hang it up. A bit player with a character arc is still a rare thing among henchmen.