Pokemon Images (Games)

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
Can't be. Pokedex entries specifically say that the log is given to Komala by it's parents, and that sometimes it will cling to the arm of a friendly trainer instead. Which makes it's shiny color even weirder... if it drops the log and clings to your arm, you wouldn't even be able to tell that's shiny.
 

MastaofBitches

Well-Known Member





 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
MastaofBitches said:
*Snipped*
Poor Pikachu... mentally scarred for life.

Good one, MoB.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
Rising Dragon said:
Fuckin' Brock there in the background. Classic.
I didn't notice that. Humorous find! :)

-chronodekar
 

Kenko

Well-Known Member
chronodekar said:
Rising Dragon said:
Fuckin' Brock there in the background. Classic.
I didn't notice that. Humorous find! :)

-chronodekar
And the often "Girl was actually somewhat interested but no, here comes someone else ruing the moment" trope that follows Brock. You ever notice that? He nearly hits it off, but something happens? Poor guy... http://i.imgur.com/a8VJ1ye.gif
 

Solaris

Well-Known Member
Kenko said:
chronodekar said:
Rising Dragon said:
Fuckin' Brock there in the background. Classic.
I didn't notice that. Humorous find! :)

-chronodekar
And the often "Girl was actually somewhat interested but no, here comes someone else ruing the moment" trope that follows Brock. You ever notice that? He nearly hits it off, but something happens? Poor guy... http://i.imgur.com/a8VJ1ye.gif
Think he hit it off with 2? 3? girls? Too bad it never goes through.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uW166yY7D4[/video]
 

MastaofBitches

Well-Known Member
 

MastaofBitches

Well-Known Member


















 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
Well that's disturbing. And implies some even more disturbing things about the nature of the human soul and the afterlife in the Pokemon universe.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
Altered Nova said:
Well that's disturbing. And implies some even more disturbing things about the nature of the human soul and the afterlife in the Pokemon universe.
Hmm... Pokemons are the souls of humans who died? That IS an interesting concept. As for the comic, a fitting end, I say. Nicely drawn too. :)

-chronodekar
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
chronodekar said:
Altered Nova said:
Well that's disturbing. And implies some even more disturbing things about the nature of the human soul and the afterlife in the Pokemon universe.
Hmm... Pokemons are the souls of humans who died? That IS an interesting concept. As for the comic, a fitting end, I say. Nicely drawn too. :)

-chronodekar
Yeah, that's canon too.

Yamask is a human soul, the mask they carry used to be their face when they were alive.

Phantump is a tree stump that is possessed by children who died while lost in woods.

Drifloon and Banette are straight up child murdering monsters.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of Pokedex entries are straight up nightmare fuel. Pokemon has some seriously dark shit hidden away in its lore and a lot of Pokedex entries are downright disturbing.

It's probably the darkest and most metal video game in the world that is targeted at 6-11 year olds.
 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
The Pokedex is also full of ludicrously implausible and straight up impossible entries. Pidgeot can fly at mach 2 (but only has a base speed of 91), Tyranitar and Machamp can both crush mountains with a single arm, all Alakazam have an IQ of 5000 (IQ does not work like that), a boy with extrasensory powers transformed into Kadabra, Spoink and Slugma don't die if they get paralyzed or put to sleep even though the dex says that would kill them, Braviary can carry a car while flying (but weighs 90 lbs), Grimer was created by sludge being exposed to X-rays from the moon (wtf?), Gardevoir can create black holes (but never learns a move or ability based on that informed power), Parasect's spores are used as herbal medicine in China (China exists in the pokemon universe?!), etc.

It's pretty clear that the pokedex entries are not reliable sources of information. At best they include a lot of folklore and legends, and at worst they are filled with bullshit written by overly imaginative 10 year trainers. Personally, I have a very hard time believing that any ghost pokemon were born from the souls of dead humans because holy shit why would anybody catch them and make them cock fight? What a way to treat the spirits of dead! Seriously, I would think that people would treat pokemon very differently if they knew they might become one themselves after they die.
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
Altered Nova said:
The Pokedex is also full of ludicrously implausible and straight up impossible entries. Pidgeot can fly at mach 2 (but only has a base speed of 91), Tyranitar and Machamp can both crush mountains with a single arm, all Alakazam have an IQ of 5000 (IQ does not work like that), a boy with extrasensory powers transformed into Kadabra, Spoink and Slugma don't die if they get paralyzed or put to sleep even though the dex says that would kill them, Braviary can carry a car while flying (but weighs 90 lbs), Grimer was created by sludge being exposed to X-rays from the moon (wtf?), Gardevoir can create black holes (but never learns a move or ability based on that informed power), Parasect's spores are used as herbal medicine in China (China exists in the pokemon universe?!), etc.

It's pretty clear that the pokedex entries are not reliable sources of information. At best they include a lot of folklore and legends, and at worst they are filled with bullshit written by overly imaginative 10 year trainers. Personally, I have a very hard time believing that any ghost pokemon were born from the souls of dead humans because holy shit why would anybody catch them and make them cock fight? What a way to treat the spirits of dead! Seriously, I would think that people would treat pokemon very differently if they knew they might become one themselves after they die.
Video game lore doesn't have to make sense to be canon.

Plus, lore entries tend to be pretty consistent across multiple sequels as well. When they change they don't contradict previous entries, but rather add to them.

Gameplay mechanics trump sticking to lore even if it is considered accurate in the context of worldbuilding.

Spider-man being bitten by a radioactive spider and getting super powers doesn't make sense either. Nor does the Hulk getting smacked around by characters that shouldn't be able to hurt him any more than a baby's slap would any normal adult in his various video game appearances.

Plus this dark streak is pretty consistent across the entire franchise. There are a lot of rather bleak and disturbing Pokedex entries in pretty much every game in the series.

It seems implied that wild pokemon are in fact exceedingly dangerous and aggressive to humans, and that pokeballs do something to pacify and control them once they are captured. Pokemon also don't get captured willingly, they fight and will break out of and destroy balls if not weakened enough or captured by balls strong enough to hold them. Pokeballs also work on literal gods, so the technology is no small matter.

That goes a long way to explaining why everyone has pokemon, even non-trainers. It's not just a matter of utility, but a matter of security.

It also provides context about why trainers are so valued and numerous, why they start so young, and why study of these things is considered so important.

It also explains the "cock fight" element. Pokemon get stronger as you battle them, and it seems to be the only way to make them more powerful. Training them to be stronger so they can deal with more dangerous wild pokemon makes sense.

Before Pokeballs and the technology to control Pokemon, the world the games take place in was likely pretty hellish for humans. They definitely weren't anywhere near the top of the food chain.

Let's not forget, Pokemon is short for Pocket Monsters, and the latter part of that implies something a bit less than friendly if you live anywhere not named Sesame Street.
 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
Dude, you aren't even arguing against me. I never said I disagree with the general darkness of pokedex entries. I actually rather like it. My only main point was that we can't really trust any one specific pokedex entry because lots of them are clearly bullshit (unless you want to argue that real world nations exist in the pokemon universe?)

I take issue with the idea that humans can transform into pokemon (whether by turning into ghosts after death or by spontaneously transforming into Kadabra for no apparent reason) because that should change how people treat them. If it's common knowledge that Yamask and Phantump are the souls of dead humans, then who the fuck would capture them and treat them like pets? Anyone who did would become a social pariah - just imagine the backlash against someone who captured another family's dead grandmother or child. They'd probably outlaw the capture of ghost pokemon and there would be religions who treat them as sacred beings.

Also I don't think life was quite as bad before pokeballs as you claim. Humans aren't helpless in the pokemon universe - many of them have mildly superhuman abilities such as the psychics and martial artists, and the Sinnoh myths describe a warrior who casually slew many pokemon with a sword. (There's also the anime-only Aura Guardians who are basically wizards, and the Pokemon Conquest game where humans and pokemon fight side-by-side as equals.) Ancient people in the pokemon universe also had other ways of controlling and sealing pokemon, such as by binding Spiritombs to odd keystones 500 years ago, the colored orbs used to control Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, using pokeball precursors crafted from Apricorns, or just taming them like normal animals. Many of the legendary pokemon are also specifically stated to have willingly helped and protected humanity throughout history. And those ancient people apparently had advanced magitech judging by the Ultimate Weapon created by AZ friggin' 3000 years ago.

So yeah life would have been tougher for people before mass-produced modern pokeballs allowed literally everyone to become pokemon trainers and made warriors and conventional weapons unnecessary in society, but I don't think it was some hellish death world.
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
Altered Nova said:
Dude, you aren't even arguing against me. I never said I disagree with the general darkness of pokedex entries. I actually rather like it. My only main point was that we can't really trust any one specific pokedex entry because lots of them are clearly bullshit (unless you want to argue that real world nations exist in the pokemon universe?)

I take issue with the idea that humans can transform into pokemon (whether by turning into ghosts after death or by spontaneously transforming into Kadabra for no apparent reason) because that should change how people treat them. If it's common knowledge that Yamask and Phantump are the souls of dead humans, then who the fuck would capture them and treat them like pets? Anyone who did would become a social pariah - just imagine the backlash against someone who captured another family's dead grandmother or child. They'd probably outlaw the capture of ghost pokemon and there would be religions who treat them as sacred beings.

Also I don't think life was quite as bad before pokeballs as you claim. Humans aren't helpless in the pokemon universe - many of them have mildly superhuman abilities such as the psychics and martial artists, and the Sinnoh myths describe a warrior who casually slew many pokemon with a sword. (There's also the anime-only Aura Guardians who are basically wizards, and the Pokemon Conquest game where humans and pokemon fight side-by-side as equals.) Ancient people in the pokemon universe also had other ways of controlling and sealing pokemon, such as by binding Spiritombs to odd keystones 500 years ago, the colored orbs used to control Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, using pokeball precursors crafted from Apricorns, or just taming them like normal animals. Many of the legendary pokemon are also specifically stated to have willingly helped and protected humanity throughout history. And those ancient people apparently had advanced magitech judging by the Ultimate Weapon created by AZ friggin' 3000 years ago.

So yeah life would have been tougher for people before mass-produced modern pokeballs allowed literally everyone to become pokemon trainers and made warriors and conventional weapons unnecessary in society, but I don't think it was some hellish death world.
That depends on the culture.

Also, it's not so outlandish for a fictional world. Ghostbusters is a thing, and presumably humans spirits are treated like pests to be exterminated in that franchise.

It's implied that they don't see ghost Pokemon that way. Turning into a Pokemon seems to alter the former spirit so that it becomes something else.

Most ghost Pokemon who were once human spirits become rather dangerous creatures. It's not common and takes specific circumstances to occur.

Also, Ghost Pokemon are rare. They aren't something most trainers have. As I recall there are only two Ghost type gyms in the series.
 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
There's also the issue that humans turning into ghost pokemon doesn't make any sense because ghost pokemon aren't actual ghosts. They're living biological creatures who can eat, be poisoned, and breed, just like any other pokemon. They just have gaseous bodies that gives them ghost-like properties.
 

Contrabardus

Well-Known Member
Altered Nova said:
There's also the issue that humans turning into ghost pokemon doesn't make any sense because ghost pokemon aren't actual ghosts. They're living biological creatures who can eat, be poisoned, and breed, just like any other pokemon. They just have gaseous bodies that gives them ghost-like properties.
Pretty sure this is another case of gameplay mechanics overruling lore.

Ghosts and undead things have all sorts of different rules governing them from culture to culture as well, or even just from story to story. Vampires are a good example of this, there are some general things, but the rules governing them can be wildly different from one story to the next.

Slimer from Ghostbusters eats too. The very first thing we see him doing in the movie is scarfing down a roomservice cart. I dunno how 'canon' it is, but I do seem to recall him getting sick with some sort of "Ghost Flu" in one episode of the cartoon, as well as him being susceptible to things like pepper and having his nose tickled to make him sneeze, which suggests he breathes.
 

MastaofBitches

Well-Known Member


















 

MastaofBitches

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