enslaving Pokémon and the areas they’ve infested are open to the public? Why hasn’t the (admittedly incompetent) public not restricted the plucky ten-year-old adventurers from entering those areas and risk having their souls and lives put into danger?

I’m going to go with “because then we wouldn’t be able to catch them.” This sounds like a cop-out, but it has the advantage of probably being the real reason for it, and maybe it can work in-universe as well. There will inevitably be Pokémon trainers who want to catch these things, and historically would have had the right to take any risks they wanted in order to do so. Almost all Pokémon can be dangerous if you’re not smart in your interactions with them – Ash almost got killed by a bunch of f$#@ing Spearow on his first day, remember – so once you accept the notion of allowing young people to do this sort of thing in the first place, it becomes difficult to start drawing lines. Also, training is the first and most important way that people in this world have of interacting with Pokémon, so deciding that trainers aren’t allowed to do so of their own free will probably seems like a really extreme reaction to them – like “holy $#!t, you’re saying that these things are so dangerous we can’t even let the monster-taming nut-jobs near them? RUN AWAY!”

Any thoughts on the theory that Pokémon are aliens, and that humans are the descendants of stranded space colonists who forgot their origins?

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard it quite that way around. I feel like the games and anime, when they leave hints about that kind of thing, are more likely to suggest that humans are from ‘Earth’ and Pokémon are the interlopers. Putting things this way around is, I suppose, one efficient way of explaining why there are humans in this world at all, but I actually don’t think it’s the only way, and I’m not sure I can think of any other questions that it simplifies, particularly.

I’ve never really given Elgyem and Beheeyem the attention they deserve, but my thinking on Clefairy has always been that there’s actually an interesting possible alternative that gets overlooked. Clefairy are capable of space flight and they’re obsessed with extraterrestrial materials and celestial phenomena… exactly like some humans. That could mean they’re from space, or it could mean that they’re from Earth and interested in extraterrestrial exploration, just like humans are. Having said that, though, I think the explanation Game Freak and the anime’s writers are probably trying to point us to is more likely that life on Pokémon Earth resulted from some form of panspermia-type event – a ‘seeding’ by organisms capable of surviving in space (rather than, say, some kind of bizarre Noah’s Ark scenario), implying that there may be other planets where descendants of the same species continued to evolve independently. In the real world, people who favour this hypothesis will point to bacteria and other resilient microorganisms that might lie dormant on asteroids for millions of years at a time, but in Pokémon we actually have complex organisms who can survive in space for extended periods – namely, Lunatone and Solrock. If that happened, though, it happened so long ago that it really no longer makes sense to consider Pokémon ‘alien’ – we’re most likely talking hundreds of millions of years for something like Solrock to give rise to the myriad species that exist today. Humans might be descended from those first Pokémon, or they might be descended from microorganisms that were there already – it’s sort of hard to say why it even matters. All of this… hrmm… conveniently fits with some of my wild speculation about mineral-form Rock-types being the ancestral state of all Pokémon (damnit, I hate finding evidence that I might have been right about Pokémon evolving from rocks), but then on the other hand, if I’m right about Carbink, they might even have been around since the damn planet formed in the first place.

One of these days I really need to try drinking heavily before attempting to deal with $#!t like this. It might make more sense that way.

Have you ever did a Nuzlocke challenge? And if you did, what was the result? If you haven’t then you should really consider it. I’m really curious as to what will happen with you behind the controller of a Pokemon Nuzlocke run. :D

I have done these before, and the results were foregone and horrifying. Probably the high point was when my Illumise blew herself up with Metronome on an Emerald game.

Thinking about doing one on X and blogging about it after I finish playing Alpha Sapphire, since thanks to the miracle of modern technology I can just preserve all the Pokémon from my current game with Pokébank. We’ll see.

I like medicham. I’m disappointed it doesn’t have an alternate ability that doubles special attack. Pure Power is the same thing as Huge Power; why are these two different abilities? I always wanted it to go special and it would be the coolest use of pokemon having one of two abilities.

Sure?

The main reason I can think of for being wary of that is because, well, the way you beat Medicham is with a big physical wall… and the way you lose big physical walls is by switching them into something that’s actually a monstrously powerful special attacker. I know in terms of having big numbers it doesn’t actually make Medicham any more powerful, but the gain in versatility is enormous, and it’s not like Medicham is bad as is.

As a Greek historian, I have a very curious question for you. Are you ever annoyed when modern fiction depicts Cronus, the King of the Titans, and Khronos, the Personification of Time, as the same entity? Or do you simply write it off as a modern retcon of Greek myth?

Well, the thing is, the confusion between the two actually isn’t purely a modern one – the similarity between the names Kronos and Chronos was one that the ancient Greeks noticed too. There’re references in Plutarch and in the pseudo-Aristotelian De Mundo that seem to point to a popular belief that the two gods were actually the same dude – and then there’s whole alternate versions of the creation myth that seem to conflate them, like the one in Pherecydes’ Heptamychos, where Chronos, Kronos and Zeus (whom Pherecydes calls Zas) all seem to bleed together to some extent. Also, you gotta remember that our notion of Greek cosmology is based almost entirely on Hesiod, who is only the oldest and most broadly acknowledged written version of what was probably an extremely heterogeneous tradition with all kinds of bizarre variants that are mostly or completely lost to us. So basically… it’s okay, the ancients couldn’t keep that one straight either. 😉

In your pokemon X playthrough journal, you made the egregious statement that the “updated” cries of older pokemon appeal to nostalgia. How dare you! The cry is the most distinguishing trait of a pokemon. If there was one thing I was ever certain of, the cries were the one thing about a pokemon that would never change. Psyduck and Cubone’s classic cries were butchered! What they did to Pikachu is the worst. I’ll give you one and say they pulled off drowzee well, but the rest are unforgivab!

Well, that statement was actually referring to the sixth generation’s treatment of older Pokémon in general – which you can contrast sharply with Black and White’s (unprecedented) total exclusion of them – more so than to cries in particular, but since you bring it up… no, it’s not “the most distinguishing trait of a Pokémon;” I’d actually go so far as to call that a truly ridiculous assertion. I mean, if you look at Vileplume and Aerodactyl, the difference between their cries, originally, was all but imperceptible, despite their being totally different in every other respect. Likewise Ditto and Poliwag, Charizard and Rhyhorn, etc. And then there’s the fact that, while most of a Pokémon’s characteristics are constant across different media (games vs anime), the cry is rarely even similar. I saw it as an example of Game Freak paying attention to older Pokémon and giving them something to help ensure that they would feel every bit as shiny and polished as the new ones. Perhaps nostalgia is the wrong word for that, but I still feel my original sentiment is justified.

Any favorite towns? Cities? Where would you like to live if you lived in the pokemon world. I’d lve in either fallarbor or cerulean. Something about being on the edge of the region in quiet places appeal to me.

Tricky… I too am fond of quieter, more remote towns. In a world where technology is as pervasive as it is in Pokémon, most of the convenience of living in a big city can be had just about anywhere with a little work, and it’s nice to be able to see the stars at night. Geosenge Town has some cool archaeology going for it, as does much of Sevii. I’m fond of Fortree City as well, but it might be a little too rustic… it’s nice to be able to turn the nature off once in a while.

Did you happen to notice how feeding your pokemon poke blocks raises it’s Pokemon Amie score? I noticed it while trying to evolve a Feebas. What do you think about it?

I did notice, while prepping my Tentacool for contests. I think it’s nice to have another way of raising affection – those minigames are fun and give a nice sense of just spending a little quality time with your Pokémon, no battles or other nonsense, but they do start to drag on a bit after a while. I also think it maybe says some interesting things about battles versus contests and friendship versus affection, because fighting and winning is the most straightforward way of raising friendship. Battle mastery tends to be portrayed as involving a gradually strengthening bond of trust and camaraderie, culminating ultimately in the kind of spiritual unity that makes Mega Evolution possible, among other things. It’s some heavy stuff, potentially some philosophically demanding stuff, and certainly not for everyone. Contests and everything they involve are more about just being happy, encouraging creativity, and enjoying your time together – obviously they’re still a lot of work if you want to do it right, but no one has to get beaten up or watch their friends get beaten up. Lisia’s very lighthearted worldview makes a lot of sense in this context.

Assuming you were a Professor Tree, which 3 pre-existing Pokèmon will you assign as starters?

I’m assuming we’re going with the traditional Grass-Fire-Water set-up here? Let’s see… we want Pokémon that are straightforward, likely to be easy to raise and well-behaved. For the most part, starter Pokémon seem to be chosen along those lines anyway. Something docile like a Chikorita, for instance, is likely to be very forgiving of a new trainer’s skill in comparison to something like a Foongus or, gods forbid, a Ferroseed. Squirtle is clearly easier for an inexperienced child to work with than, say, Psyduck or Staryu. Of the Pokémon that aren’t already starters in one region or another… Skiddo seems like it’d make a really good choice for the Grass-type, being a thoroughly domesticated species with a calm and gentle nature. Energetic, helpful Buizel seems like a natural choice for a Water-type; Poliwag might also make a decent Water-type starter, but its general helplessness on land is a distinct drawback for trainers who don’t have experience with Water Pokémon (could be worse, though – Sycamore gave Tierno a Corphish, of all things, and I still have no idea what possessed him to pick a mean-tempered bastard of a Pokémon like that). I’m kinda stuck on the Fire-type. A lot of Fire Pokémon are temperamental (Vulpix) or outright dangerous (Litwick). There’d be a lot of sense to picking Growlithe, whose loyalty and bravery are excellent traits in a first partner, although a two-stage Pokémon who requires a stone to evolve seems less than ideal – I might prefer Litleo, or maybe even Numel, whose passive personality and long history of domestication make up for the fact that it’s… well, a little slow, if you catch my drift.

What would be your ideal Grass-type Pokemon, aesthetically, mechanically, conceptually? You’ve said Grass is your favorite type, and you’ve definitely expressed opinions on it before, so I was just wondering: if Game Freak gave you a few sheets of paper and a set of colored pens, what would you come up with?

Mmmrrrrmmm. Hmm. Grass Pokémon, to me, can be tranquil but sinister, peaceful but deadly. More than half of all Grass-types in the first generation were Grass/Poison, you know, and real-world plants are the ultimate source of thousands upon thousands of medically useful chemicals, and ten times as many deadly poisons. My favourite Grass Pokémon, as you’ve probably heard me mention, is Vileplume. So… gimme a plant, gimme a plant…

Got one.

In Homer’s Odyssey, there is a short episode where a number of Odysseus’ men, off exploring one of the strange lands they’ve discovered, are taken in by the locals, who are called the Lotophagoi (Lotus-Eaters), and offered a meal of a mysterious fruit, the lotus, that seems to be the only food anyone eats there. The fruit turns out to be incredibly addictive, and induces a state of bliss in which the men are completely unable to remember who they are, where they come from, or what they are supposed to be doing. Odysseus and the others have to literally drag them kicking and screaming back to the ships. So then, how about a Pokémon like that? A Grass-type that grows mysterious psychoactive fruit which, when eaten, compel other wild Pokémon to do its bidding? Grass/Psychic or Grass/Fairy could both be justified, and both of them already exist (Exeggutor, Celebi and Whimsicott) but neither is particularly laboured at this point. I think Grass/Psychic is probably most appropriate, thematically. ”Because it is still young, this Pokémon’s psychic powers are too weak to influence others, so it offers them the mysterious fruit that grows on its vines in exchange for protection and favours,” then later, after evolving, “A single bite of its tantalising fruit can bring you under its psychic control for hours or even days. It surrounds itself with other wild Pokémon for protection.”

Now, fun fact about the Homeric lotus – no one is 100% sure what it is. It’s almost certainly not the plant most commonly referred to as “lotus” today, the sacred lotus flower Nelumbo nucifera, which is native to south east Asia (this is what the lotuses in the first Percy Jackson movie are based on – in the books there is no fruit or flower at all, probably because the author knew better). Because the historian Herodotus seems to have thought that the Homeric Lotophagoi lived in North Africa, people commonly go with fruit trees native to that region, like the date plum, but a wide variety of interesting candidates has been put forward – possibly the high point of my entire last semester was finding, in the course of research for a presentation on the Odyssey’s portrayal of faraway lands, a legit scholarly article from 1937 which argued, in total seriousness, that the Lotus-Eaters were actually addicted to watermelons. That being the case, the physical design of this thing would be wide open; at the moment what I’m imagining is a sort of shuffling bush thing with clawed, woody feet, eyes near the base, and long tendrils that sprout from the top and hang down around it, with several different coloured fruits on the ends. Maybe an actual lotus flower on the top, at the centre of the tendrils, but again, you can sort of go either way on how appropriate that is. Something like that.