Which Code Lyoko Characters Appear In The Reboot Or Spin-Offs?

I still get a little thrilled talking about this show—there’s something cozy about sorting out who ever gets scanned into 'Code Lyoko' and who stays happily (or frustratingly) earthbound. The short, clean point I always tell friends is this: among the core gang, Jeremy Belpois is the one who never gets virtualized into Lyoko. He’s the brains at the keyboard, the tower operator, and narratively he’s the anchor in the real world; that role is exactly why the show never scans him (except for a couple of ambiguous dream/flashback moments). Beyond Jeremy, the series never shows a whole bunch of recurring and background characters being virtualized. Think Sissi and her clique (including Nicolas), most of the teachers and school staff, parents, and the town’s adult figures — they’re present in the storyline but never scanned into Lyoko. Franz Hopper is a special case: his story involves digital consciousness and Lyoko’s creation, but he isn’t a typical “scanned teen” into an Adventure sector the way Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and later William are. Similarly, Aelita’s status is unusual because she originates from Lyoko and later gets materialized on Earth, so the usual “virtualize from Earth into Lyoko” description doesn’t fit her original arc. If you like digging into details, the show treats virtualization as both a practical mechanic (only a limited number of people can be scanned at once, Jeremy has to manage the process, and scanners are risky) and a storytelling tool (keeping one character in the real world preserves the drama and exposition). So whether you’re making a watchlist or arguing with friends about who should’ve been sent in to face XANA, Jeremy is the canonical non-virtualized core member, while Sissi, the adults, and most background characters never get scanned on-screen. It’s one of those little structural choices that makes the group dynamic so fun to rewatch.

Man, the designs for 'Code Lyoko' have always felt like a mash-up of anime energy and European comic sensibilities — and the original concept art really leans into that. When I dug through old DVD extras and fan-scanned art, what stands out is how the creators played with two identities for the cast: a 2D, more everyday look for the real-world scenes, and a sharper, more stylized 3D avatar look for Lyoko. The early sketches show Aelita as almost ethereal — very fairy-like, long pink hair, softer facial features — while her Lyoko form was exaggerated into something more angular and otherworldly. Jeremy's concept art highlights the nerdy brainy vibe with oversized glasses and a lab-coat silhouette; his Lyoko incarnation becomes more practical and tech-oriented, designed to fit the grid rather than a classroom. Odd and Ulrich went through some of the clearest shifts. Odd started as a quirky, almost catlike troublemaker on paper, and the virtual redesign leans into that with spikier hair, more purple tones, and an agile, acrobatic suit. Ulrich’s original concepts felt strongly inspired by samurai motifs — long bangs, lean build, and a combat-ready aesthetic in Lyoko that turned him into a sword-wielding silhouette. Yumi’s early sketches balanced modern teenage clothing with subtle nods to traditional Japanese attire; in Lyoko she moves into a more ceremonial, kimono-ish combat outfit that suits her telekinesis and fan-weapon style. Even the color palettes were intentional: muted, realistic colors for real life; neon-tinted, high-contrast palettes for the virtual world so characters pop against Lyoko’s stark geometry. The monsters and XANA constructs are another fun area — early designs are more abstract, sometimes grotesque, showing experiments with organic-mechanical hybrids before settling on the final CGI-friendly forms. That progression reflects the technical limits of mixing 2D animation and pre-rendered 3D — the team simplified shapes while keeping the creep factor. I love paging through these sketches late at night; they show all the 'what ifs' — alternate hairstyles, different costumes, even little personality notes scribbled next to faces. If you hunt down artbooks or old convention panels, you’ll see how decisions were made to balance readability for kids, stylistic flair, and the story beats that needed each character to embody. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes rabbit hole that makes rewatching 'Code Lyoko' feel fresh, because you start noticing why Aelita looks vulnerable in one shot and like a warrior in the next.

There’s something about the way the virtual landscape in 'Code Lyoko' stretches possibilities that makes arguing over who’s the strongest a fun rabbit hole. From my perspective as an obsessive rewatcher who paused episodes for tiny details, strength is basically two things: raw destructive potential and the ability to change the rules of the game. If you measure power as ‘can actually stop XANA from completing its plan,’ Aelita sits high on the list. Her ability to locate and deactivate towers is literally the mission-critical power — without her, the team is fumbling. Beyond that, she evolves: she’s not just a code guardian, she becomes a person who can interact with both worlds, and her interface knowledge gives her unique leverage. If we rank more broadly, XANA itself deserves its own league — as a sentient virus/program it can possess people, create monstrous constructs, hijack networks, and basically rewrite the environment. When XANA grabs the reins, whole cities are at risk; that’s top-tier danger. Then you have William during his XANA-possessed phase: the show gives him almost unstoppable combat ability — energy projection, enhanced durability, and an eerie relentlessness. He’s the one-shot boss fight that forces everyone to adapt their tactics. Among the human fighters, Ulrich is the close-combat powerhouse with insane agility and a sword that cuts through most threats in Lyoko, Yumi brings tactical control and ranged precision with her telekinetic fans, and Odd’s speed and energy arrows make him the skirmisher who can handle hordes. Jeremy isn’t flashy in a fistfight, but his cerebral control over scans, virtual architecture, and sentry systems makes him a backstage powerhouse — take away his console and their edge slips. Franz Hopper is another wild card: creator-level access and knowledge give him meta-power over Lyoko’s systems. So depending on the metric — destructive capability (XANA/possessed William), mission-critical control (Aelita/Jeremy), or battlefield dominance (Ulrich/Yumi/Odd) — the strongest changes. Personally I love how the show balances those different kinds of strength; it’s never just about who hits harder, it’s about who can change the rules mid-battle.

Watching 'Code Lyoko' unfold felt like watching a messy, brilliant homework group turn into a tiny army of weirdly competent heroes — and I loved every second of it. Jeremy starts off as the super-nerdy, slightly anxious brains-on-the-backbench type who lives in his computer lab; across the seasons he becomes the linchpin, the strategist who learns to shoulder leadership and moral weight. He’s not just the kid who builds scanners anymore — he becomes the person everyone trusts to make impossible technical calls, and you can see his confidence harden through battles, resets, and mistakes. Aelita’s arc is the one that always gets me emotional: she begins as an almost-naïve virtual being with fragmented memories and becomes more human by degrees, learning to feel jealousy, guilt, hope, and belonging. Her journey from binary code to a person with agency is the show’s emotional backbone. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi evolve in quieter, more human ways. Ulrich’s sword skills and stoic discipline mask an inner conflict about friendship, rivalry, and loyalty; you watch him learn restraint and how to care without suffocating. Odd starts as the comic relief — flippant, hyper, weirdly confident — but later shows real bravery and sacrifice, and his humor becomes a coping mechanism rather than just a personality quirk. Yumi’s calm, collected exterior softens to reveal vulnerability: she juggles family expectations, inner doubts, and a deep sense of responsibility in fights that don’t always go her way. William’s arc is the darker one: what starts as a new ally becomes a tragic pawn when XANA uses him, and that possession adds real consequences, guilt, and moral complexity to the group’s dynamic. Even side characters like Sissi grow from one-note bully to someone who occasionally reveals shades of insecurity — not a full redemption, but believable shading. By the time you get to the later episodes and 'Code Lyoko: Evolution', the theme of integration (virtual vs. real) gets literal: characters must reconcile parts of themselves that live in two worlds. The stakes shift from “save Aelita” to “deal with the fallout of living between realities,” and that forces practical maturity — new strategies, harder compromises, and a lot more emotional fallout. Rewatching it now as an older viewer, I catch tiny character beats I missed as a kid: a glance, a hesitation, a line delivered differently. If you’re revisiting, watch for the non-battle scenes — they’re where the real growth is, and they make those final confrontations hit so much harder.

Grab a snack and settle in, because the romantic side of 'Code Lyoko' is one of those slow-burn things that kept me rewatching scenes to catch every glance. The clearest, most widely accepted canonical relationship in the original series is Ulrich and Yumi. The show keeps flirting and jealousy as recurring beats for years, and by the end those feelings pay off in a way that most viewers take as a solid romantic outcome: they finally acknowledge their feelings and share an intimate moment that’s hard to read as anything but romantic closure. For people who shipped them since season one, that was a quietly satisfying payoff. Where the series gets more coy is with Jérémie and Aelita. Their bond is the emotional core of the team — she’s literally brought back into the real world because of him, and he repeatedly risks everything to protect her. The creators give them many tender, meaningful scenes that strongly imply romantic feelings (protective gestures, jealous looks, heart-on-sleeve moments). But the show rarely slaps a label on it. I’d call it canonically affectionate and romantically charged, but intentionally ambiguous: the emotional chemistry is real and acknowledged on-screen, yet the writers leave the exact status more suggestive than declared, which is part of the charm. Then there are the smaller but still-canonical crushes and flutters: William, when introduced, clearly shows romantic interest (especially toward Aelita early on), and that dynamic has real consequences for the plot. Sissi’s crushes are a comedic, recurring thread in the high-school scenes — she’s infatuated and makes it obvious, which the show plays for laughs but it’s still a canonical romantic subplot. Odd is the flirt of the group — he teases, pursues, and flirts with several girls, but the series never gives him a deep, long-term canonical romance. So if you’re tallying up: Ulrich–Yumi is the most explicit canonical pair; Jérémie–Aelita is heavily implied and emotionally canonical even if not formally labeled; William and Sissi have clear crushes that affect scenes; others are mostly flirtation or left to subtext. I love how the series trusts viewers enough to read the chemistry, and that subtlety is part of why people keep debating the ships even today.

Throwing my voice into the debate like I'm shouting across the factory where Jeremy tinkers with the scanners: here's how I'd rank the 'Code Lyoko' crew strictly by raw combat ability, with why I put them where I did. Top tier: William (when possessed or powered up) leads because of sheer destructive capability and durability — he literally becomes a walking XANA weapon in season 4. Right under him I put Ulrich: his sword skills, reflexes, and battlefield instincts make him the most consistent one-on-one fighter. Yumi edges in just after Ulrich for me because her precision, range control with her fans, and calm head in chaotic fights let her outplay opponents rather than overpower them. Mid tier: Aelita is weirdly situational. She isn't a bruiser, but her ability to interact with Lyoko's infrastructure (tower control, deactivating monsters, and unique defensive powers) makes her invaluable; in a straight duel she loses to Ulrich or Yumi, but in real fights she swings the outcome. Odd is fast and unpredictable — his agility and trick shots let him take down enemies who rely on brute strength, but he lacks the raw stopping power of Ulrich or William. Jeremy is last on the physical chart because he's the brains and support; without his remote hacks and strategic commands the others would struggle more, but he isn't built for melee. If you factor in possessed states and temporary power-ups, rankings can flip wildly (William spikes, Aelita shines whenever a tower's in play, and Jeremy's influence can change the whole map). Personally, I love that the show forces teamwork over solo supremacy — it means my favorite fighter, Ulrich, still needs Jeremy's brain and Aelita's keys. Makes every duel feel like chess with swords, and I still cheer loudest for the blade-wielding underdog when he lands a critical strike.

I still get a thrill when I find tiny mentions of characters who never really showed up on-screen — it’s like spotting a ghost in the background of 'Code Lyoko'. When people talk about “lost” characters, I usually mean the folks who get a line or a file mention but never get a full scene. You’ll see those references in a few recurring places: flashback episodes about Aelita’s past (where off-screen scientists, factory workers or project names get named), any episode that plays with memory wipes or rewrites (that’s where classmates, family members, or previously-established NPCs drop out of continuity), and Jeremy’s lab logs or computer screens. Jeremy’s diagnostics and the scanner output are a goldmine; pause and read the scrolling text and console windows — you’ll sometimes catch an ID, a file name, or a short log that hints at another person who existed in the story world but never entered the frame. Another place to look is in school scenes and casual dialogue. Sissi, Jim and other background characters often gossip about absent classmates or mention family members in passing. Those throwaway lines are where the show quietly references people who never become recurring faces. Also, visually check background posters, yearbooks, classroom lists, and crowd shots; the creators loved putting little names on lockers or on a bulletin board that aren’t otherwise followed up on. Fansubbing and paused screenshots are my habit for catching those things. If you want to track them down systematically, use transcripts and fan wikis — they catalog offhand mentions better than my memory can. I like making screenshots and a small scrapbook; it’s oddly satisfying to map out these near-misses. It makes rewatching 'Code Lyoko' feel like a treasure hunt rather than just a nostalgia trip, and it keeps me coming back to notice more details every time.

There’s something so satisfying about taking a screenshot from 'Code Lyoko' and turning those clean, geometric outfits into something you can actually wear. I usually start by picking one clear reference image — front, side, and back if possible — and laying them out on my phone when I’m building. For Lyoko suits the foundation is almost always a spandex unitard or two-piece rashguard and leggings: get a good stretch fabric (nylon-spandex blends are my go-to) and size up if you plan to layer or add foam pieces. Next I map the circuit lines and color blocks. I trace the pattern onto freezer paper or use painter’s tape directly on the fabric to mark areas, then paint with fabric paint or use heat-transfer vinyl for crisp edges. EL wire or thin LED strips make the outfits glow in photos and really sell the virtual vibe — I sew small pockets or channels on the inside to hide batteries and controllers. For character-specific cues, focus on signature bits: Aelita’s pink hair clips and delicate boots, Ulrich’s headband and katana sheath, Yumi’s asymmetric jacket or hairpieces, Odd’s distinct posture and expressive gloves, Jeremy’s goggles and tech props. Wig work and makeup tie everything together. Stretch wigs to remove bulk, use heat tools sparingly, and anchor with wig tape. Practice moving — some Lyoko poses need flexibility, so test your costume at home and modify seams to avoid ripping. If you’re short on time or cash, buy a plain bodysuit in the right color and add vinyl decals for the lines; if you want a show-stopping build, layer foam armor, EL wiring, and weathered paints. And take pictures early: sometimes a little photo editing (contrast, color pop) finishes what tailoring can’t, but good construction always shines in-person.