Todd Snap: The Pokémon Photographer Who Only Captures Images

He carries a camera, never a Poké Ball. Todd has one of the few jobs in the Pokémon world that involve no battling at all: Pokémon photographer. Players step into his shoes in Pokémon Snap, an adventure built entirely around the snapshot, and the anime makes him a supporting character whose profession gets misunderstood by exactly the wrong people.

Contents

• The Hero of a Pokémon Game With No Battles and No Catching
• In the Anime: A Job Taken the Wrong Way
• Two Comebacks, Years Apart
• The Reporter the Manga Never Names
• Todd at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Hero of a Pokémon Game With No Battles and No Catching

Pokémon Snap casts the player as Todd and strips away everything that usually defines the series: no battles, no badges, no Poké Balls. The assignment comes from Professor Oak, who tasks the photographer with bringing back as many species as possible on film to further his research.

The whole game takes place in a single location, Pokémon Island, which Todd travels across aboard a vehicle designed by the scientist. Here, equipment takes the place of a battle team: the photographer doesn't set out with Pokémon, he sets out with a vehicle and the means to make his subjects react.

Three items serve that purpose: apples, Pester Balls and the Poké Flute. Each one triggers a different reaction in the targeted Pokémon, and that reaction is what separates an ordinary picture from a great shot — the game rewards observation where other titles reward strategy.

Years later, the character returns in New Pokémon Snap, this time as the one giving advice. He shares his tips with the new protagonist and lends Professor Mirror a hand, on an expedition also covered in our profile of Phil.

In the Anime: A Job Taken the Wrong Way

The anime gives him three episodes during its first season: "Pokémon Paparazzi," "The Ultimate Test" and "The Breeding Center Secret." In them, he works for a famous magazine and photographs species in their natural habitat, without ever trying to take them with him.

That very job is what sets the plot in motion. Disguised as an elderly couple, Team Rocket hires the photographer to grab Pikachu: the crooks mistook "capturing pictures" for "capturing Pokémon" and think they're hiring a kidnapper.

On that particular subject, Todd fails again and again — none of his attempts to photograph Pikachu succeeds. His portfolio does, however, include the Aerodactyl that grabbed Ash, captured on film in the episode about the prehistoric Pokémon.

When he sees through the trick, he picks his side: he sides with Ash and his friends, who foil Team Rocket and get Pikachu back. So the character isn't an opponent, but a witness someone tried to use as a pawn.

📸 The subject he never managed to frame has its own section: check out the collection Pikachu.

Two Comebacks, Years Apart

He turns up again during the season devoted to the Johto League, with a target of a whole different caliber: this time it's Articuno he has come to photograph, a Legendary the series only shows sparingly.

His most recent reappearance takes him far from Kanto. The Journeys series shows him in Galar, where he visits Wyndon, just as the World Coronation Series final is being played there.

He plays no active part: he watches from a distance as Eternatus bursts into the sky above the Stadium. The role suits the character — present wherever something happens, at a distance, behind the lens rather than in the arena.

The Reporter the Manga Never Names

The manga adaptation gives him a similar role and a hazier status. He goes through the Emerald arc, sent to the Battle Frontier as a reporter and photographer, but his name is never spoken: he is only ever referred to as "the reporter."

His entrance is a rescue. It's Emerald, an eccentric boy, who saves him from a wild Sudowoodo; the photographer then follows the events of the arc at his side, with help from Latios and Latias.

The story comes full circle with the assignment that made him famous among players: a new request from Professor Oak sends him to photograph an island teeming with Pokémon. The manga thus sends its nameless reporter off toward the adventure everyone knows him for.

Todd at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Todd in the Pokémon world?
  A Pokémon photographer. He is the hero players control in Pokémon Snap, and a supporting character in the anime, where he does the same job for a famous magazine.
• Does Todd have any Pokémon?
  No team is attributed to him. His work consists of photographing Pokémon, not catching them, and that's what sets the character apart from the series' Trainers.
• What is Pokémon Snap about?
  Professor Oak asks Todd to photograph as many species as possible for his research. The photographer travels across Pokémon Island aboard a vehicle designed by the scientist, using apples, Pester Balls and the Poké Flute to make his subjects react.
• Does Todd return in New Pokémon Snap?
  Yes, years after the first game. He gives the main protagonist several tips and helps out Professor Mirror.
• Why does Team Rocket hire Todd?
  Because of a misunderstanding. Disguised as an elderly couple, the villains recruit him to grab Pikachu, convinced that a man who captures pictures can also capture the Pokémon themselves.

In short

Todd fills a role the series rarely fills: that of the professional witness, who documents Pokémon without trying to own them. The game built an entire adventure around him, the anime a criminal mix-up, the manga a useful nameless figure. Three media, one gesture: pressing the shutter button.