Wanna catch 'em all? Themed transmogrification for Pet Battles

Pet Battles was released on the beta servers earlier this week, and it's ridiculously fun. Not only can you train a team from your corral of existing pets, you can also wander out in the world and capture even more pets to level up. Needless to say, I've been having an incredibly good time with the new feature, and I'm looking forward to playing it on live servers when Mists hits.

Of course, the obvious statement at BlizzCon when this feature was announced was that it bears a remarkable similarity to Pokemon. The truth is, there are a ton of these critter battle-themed games out there, and this one just happens to have that Warcraft flavor we all know and love. That said, why not use transmogrification to deck your character out in Pokemon style? It's a little tricky to do, but we've got some cloth sets that may fit the bill.

Team Rocket

Look, you can make all the Pokemon trainer looks in the world out there, but there's only one Team Rocket, and it begged to be recreated à la Warcraft. Unfortunately, the iconic red R on the Team Rocket uniform is nowhere to be found in game. Fortunately, there's a red and white tabard that comes close to mimicking the effect! Please note that there are a few differences between the male and female versions of this outfit.

• Head No helm is required for this outfit.

• Shoulders Jesse and James wear white jackets. We have to have shoulders in there somewhere, so we're going to go with the Aurora Mantle to blend with the overall look.

• Back No cloak needed.

• Chest For female characters, look up the Aurora Armor for Jesse's short-sleeved look. For male characters, grab the Buccaneer's Vest for a long-sleeved version suitable for James.

• Shirt The Stylish Black Shirt has the long black sleeves we're looking for to mimic the look of exceptionally long gloves.

• Wrists We want the bracers to blend into the black glove. Grasps of Reason work well for this purpose. You can find them on XT-002 Deconstructor in Ulduar on 25-man normal mode.

• Hands For gloves, Darrowmere Handwraps are a sleek black option that will blend in perfectly with the bracers and shirt.

• Waist The belt shown here is the Ironweave Belt, which is incredibly difficult to obtain. It drops from a boss that is summoned with an item you could only get during the original tier .5 quest chain. If you know someone who has stashed the Brazier of Invocation away, you can still obtain this belt. Otherwise, you may want to look for an alternate cloth belt in red, simply to match the red of the tabard.

• Legs The legs shown here are the Astralaan Pants. The black and white look ties easily into the rest of the outfit.

• Feet For the feet, we want a set of tall black boots. Look for Saltarello Shoes, which drop in Naxxramas from either Heigan or Gluth in normal 10-man mode.

• Tabard To mimic the red and white of the Team Rocket logo, we've used a tabard. Specifically, this is the Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade. This green, bind-on-pickup tabard can only be found on the Scarlet Trainees that spawn after Herod is defeated in Scarlet Monastery. Because Scarlet Monastery is getting a revamp in Mists, I would suggest farming this tabard sooner rather than later!

You can't really consider a Pokemon transmogrification complete until you've tried your hand at Ash Ketchum and Misty. And you've never really experienced the exquisite pain of a headache until you've tried putting together outfits that work for both of them. The combination of suspenders, shorts, ball caps and jackets don't exist in World of Warcraft. However, I've done my best to put together an approximation of both looks.

Ash Ketchum

• Head Ash has a really distinctive red and white ball cap on the show. We may not have a

  red and white ballcap, but as far as I'm concerned, any excuse to whip out the Crimson Felt Hat is a good one. You can find this snazzy hat on Magistrate Barthilas in Stratholme.

• Shoulders Much like the Team Rocket look shown above, we're going to go with the Aurora Mantle for Ash, too.

• Back No cloak needed here, either!

• Chest Have a tailor whip up a Blue Linen Vest for you.

• Shirt For a short-sleeved white shirt with a collar, you'll want to nab a Sleeveless T-Shirt. This snazzy shirt can be looted from various enemies in the Alterac Valley Battleground.

• Wrists Ash wears short, fingerless gloves. To recreate this look, we're going to go with some very tiny bracers. Look for Imbued Disciple's Bracers.

• Hands For gloves, look for a set of Scholar's Gloves, which have the fingerless look we're after.

• Waist The red belt shown here is the Aboriginal Sash.

• Legs With both Ash and Misty, we want to mimic the look of denim. The tailor-crafted Frostweave Pants are one of many blue options that will work for this look.

• Feet WoW is sorely lacking in any sneaker-esque footwear. Try having a tailor whip up a pair of Deathsilk Boots for an alternate option.

Misty

In Pokemon, Misty's known for her yellow shirt and red suspenders. There's no such thing as suspenders in WoW, so we have to make do by layering yellow and red in an approximation that suggests Misty's outfit. In addition, it's pretty hard to find shorts or sneakers -- but we've made do with a few substitutions.

• Head Misty doesn't wear a hat, so we don't need to worry about that with this look.

• Shoulders Because Misty's top is comprised of red and yellow, we're going to go with the smallest red spaulders we can find. Look for the Consortium Mantle and you're set.

• Back No cloak needed.

• Chest This time, you'll want to have a tailor whip up a Red Linen Vest for you.

• Shirt This yellow belly shirt is the Golden Filigreed Shirt. You can purchase it from Karandonna in Dalaran.

• Wrists Misty doesn't wear gloves at all, but they have to be there for transmogrification purposes. Shown here are the Bloodband Bracers, a reward from the quest The Captain's Chest in Stranglethorn Vale. If you've already completed this quest, just keep an eye out for another set of suitably tiny bracers.

• Hands These understated red gloves are the Imperial Red Gloves. The fingerless look goes nicely with the rest of the outfit.

• Waist For the belt, have a tailor craft an Azure Silk Belt for you.

• Legs While we may not have any options for short shorts, the Abjurer's Pants are a knee-length alternative that fits well enough with the rest of the look.

• Feet No sneakers? Well, that's all right. We can get the look of socks and sandals at the very least, by farming up Ringo's Blizzard Boots from Blackwing Lair. You can find these boots on the Death Talon Wyrmguards that patrol the upper levels.

While Pet Battles may take a little time to master, finding outfits that fit the theme of Pokemon's trainers and characters was far more difficult. But these are only the bare minimum of outfit ideas -- there are a ton of other trainer looks that can be put together with a little creative layering. If you've got a trainer outfit of your own in the works, leave a comment and let us know about it; we'd love to see your ideas, too!

Patch 4.3 lets you transmogrify your gear to look like any other gear your class can wear -- but you have to collect it first. Check out our coverage of transmogrification and start running those old dungeons!