One of the best parts of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is that its single-city setting illustrates the power of community building and the importance of public services. Its cast of trainers come from different walks of life and all contribute something different to Lumiose City. However, we’re not here to talk about the streamer, socialite, or mob boss. We’re here to talk about the true backbone of Lumiose City’s urban redevelopment plan: the Poké Ball Collector.
These unnamed men show up throughout Lumiose, typically next to a Pokémon Center, and if you ever see them with a yellow text bubble above their heads, you should talk to them immediately. See, these handsome gentlemen are part of the city’s clean-up crew, but they focus on a specific type of trash littered around town: Poké Balls. Every time you misthrow one of these capture devices at the local wildlife, these guys are right behind you, collecting these relics of your Pokémon training failures to give them back to you so you don’t have to buy more balls when perfectly good ones are lying around the Wild Zones.
Crucially, he will only pick up ones that miss their target, not ones that fail to capture a Pokémon because you didn’t weaken them enough in battle. But even so, that’s such a handy quality-of-life change that I’m surprised it took Pokémon nearly 30 years to implement. I guess it works best when your game is set in one city, and thus it makes sense to have dedicated systems and workers who can devote their shifts to this. But it’s especially helpful in a Legends game in which you throw Poké Balls manually and can miss your target if you’re carelessly tossing them.
Now these collectors are amassing a ton of fans, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw them featured in other Pokémon media moving forward. A guy who picks up garbage and brings it back to you is just waiting for a trading card that lets you pick through your discard pile.
the true hero of Pokémon Legends: Z-A pic.twitter.com/zGdGYjNOcs
— Out of Context Pokémon (@OoCPokemon) October 26, 2025
i am not good at this game pic.twitter.com/eVJzmun6n3
— Dyylas (@DylanDyylas) October 26, 2025
When nobody else got me I know unnamed ball collector man got me https://t.co/SjifPJR3zq pic.twitter.com/tuPLZWvU8w
— skipppppy 🍉/COMMS OPEN!!/ (@skipppppy_art) October 25, 2025
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT UPDATE:
HIS NAME IS LEANDRO AND HE LIKES ELECTRIC TYPES https://t.co/eOvZX2exvl pic.twitter.com/ttIRJOfVam
— skipppppy 🍉/COMMS OPEN!!/ (@skipppppy_art) October 28, 2025
As far as I’m concerned, Poké Ball collectors need to become a new standard for the series alongside Nurse Joy. A whole new job market has opened in the Pokémon world, and Game Freak better keep these guys employed.
