Anonymous asks:

Why does Gamefreak continue to make their Pokedex entries so blatantly at odds with the actual game? Is it some kind of weird in joke with them?

Do they?  I mean.  I’m sure they do, but is there any trend to it?  Does it happen more or less from one generation to the next?  You’re going to need to be a bit more specific if you want some wild speculation on Game Freak’s inner motives.

Once we finally get around to wrapping up the rivals series, though, I do have another project in mind that might shed some light on this.  So… watch this space, I guess.

VikingBoyBilly asks:

Why is azurill so screwed up? In gen 6 they had a chance to fix it, and all they did was make it normal/fairy. umm, what? Most of what’s wrong with azurill is obvious, but one tidbit I think is less than well known is it can’t get aqua jet, making it better to breed marills instead.

For the benefit of other readers: I’m pretty sure what Billy is referring to is Azurill’s gender… issues.  Marill and Azumarill, who were second-generation Pokémon, have a standard gender ratio – half of them are male and half are female.  Someone on the programming team evidently forgot about this when Azurill was added in the third generation, because they gave her a skewed gender ratio – only one quarter of all Azurill are male.  This isn’t, in itself, unusual.  Lots of Pokémon are like this – Clefairy and Vulpix, for example – but the gender ratio normally stays the same across evolutions.  Azurill’s doesn’t.  Because of the way the game’s coding determines an individual Pokémon’s gender, this means that one in every three female Azurill will actually become male upon evolving.  You can go and hatch a few Azurill now if you want to see it happen.  No other Pokémon does this.

So I think what you’re basically asking is “why don’t Game Freak change this?  They’ve had three generations to do it” and, well, obviously the answer is because they either haven’t noticed or don’t care.  The former seems unlikely; they don’t exactly pay a lot of attention to the fan community but it’s not like they live under a rock.  So I guess they probably don’t care.  And I don’t think I do either.  It was almost certainly a mistake initially, but it’s an amusing one that makes Azurill unique, and it doesn’t actually break anything in the game.  And, in a way, it makes Ruby and Sapphire among the first ever video games to have a playable transgender character.  Even if it was… y’know… probably by accident.  Is that… bad?  I certainly don’t think so.

Obligatory link to further ramblings on Pokémon gender from the archive.

Anonymous asks:

Vileplume is your favorite Pokemon, right? How do you feel about Bellossom?

Eh, Bellossom is just too happy for my taste.  We were put on this world to experience pain, hardship and death, Bellossom, not sing about how great the damn sun is.

Seriously, though, Bellossom is fine, and I like the weird sun-worship thing that they do, and the way that contrasts with Oddish being mainly a nocturnal Pokémon and having moonlight-related powers.  But I don’t really have any strong opinions on her, one way or the other.

VikingBoyBilly asks:

When you said Red and Blue confirmed Marowak can have children, you’re forgetting the Kangaskhan theory that states inserting the marowak sprite and using the name marowak was a mistake; It was meant to be a ghost Kangaskhan. In Gold and Silver the pokemon tower and safari zone were removed and moved Kangaskhan and cubone together into the rock tunnel. Theory confirmed?

Ah, so your wild speculation is confirmed by someone else’s wild speculation?

Good, good.  Carry on.

VikingBoyBilly asks:

Why aren’t volbeat and illumise fairy or electric type?

Because they don’t need to be?  Fireflies are real insects that exist in the real world, so there’s not really anything about them that needs to be explained by adding another type.  I mean, sure, I think there are arguments for either of those, or Fire for that matter, but if you wan’t a more specific answer than that I’m afraid you’re going to have to ask Game Freak; I have no special insight here.

Anonymous asks:

Do you believe it possible that part of the reason for assigning type to a Pokémon – and a potential answer to the enduring question of what a type is and how those so labelled fit under its umbrella – might lie in some energy form infusing those Pokémon? I think of Voltorb, obviously a pokéball that came to life, and the question becomes, what is it “possessing” or animating this pokéball? Something alive and powerful – is it possible then, that electricity itself is animating the ball? Not mundane electricity but the – forgive me – “essence” of electricity, one of many underlying let’s say “mystical” life energies that associate with natural phenomena in this world? A pokemon’s type, then, is the form of such energy that permeates it, that it channels of draws upon, and which connects its biology (or geology, etc.) to this empowered form of “life”, bestowing on it its abilities?

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Brick3621 asks:

I take it you haven’t fiddled around that much with Pokémon-Amie, but I personally think it’s one of the absolute best additions to the series simply because of how much thought went into each Pokémon’s uniqueness; try petting Slugma or feeding Kangaskhan or touching Honedge’s tassel and you’ll see what I mean. What’s your favorite interaction you’ve had so far in Amie?

I’m extremely fond of Pokémon Amie, just because of how it changes the way players relate to their individual Pokémon.  Personally, I like the idea of feeding cream puffs to really big, scary Pokémon like Gyarados – or Wailord, who just sloooowly opens his mouth wide and gulps the whole thing down in one bite.  The fact that you literally cannot touch Slugma without burning yourself is cool but also kinda sad.  I want to pet my adorable little lava slug abomination!  Note to self: triple-thick asbestos gloves…