Tag: QandA

Dodrio’s Pokedex entry for Yellow Version as well as Black and White 1 and 2: “One of DODUO’s 2 heads splits to form a unique species. It runs close to 40 MPH in prairies.” I just want to know what you think of this :)

…I’m not sure what you’re asking.  Other than the fact that Dodrio is apparently slower than Doduo (who is described in Crystal, Emerald and Fire Red as running at 60 miles per hour) it all seems perfectly reasonable.

I’ve been introducing my friend to Pokemon and she has had many questions about the “backstory” of the world (as she put it) so I directed her here and she’s loved your stuff! However, she wanted to know what you thought about Shiny Pokemon in terms of how they work in the game’s universe. From what I’ve seen, the games and show only briefly mention the different colors some Pokemon have or can sometimes flat out ignore it. Do you think it’s just a uniform mutation? How does Red Gyrados fit in?

Hrmm.

My knowledge of the anime is actually somewhat limited; the only shiny Pokémon I know of other than the famous red Gyarados is Ash’s Noctowl, who is also notable for his small size and exceptional intelligence.  Except in Gold, Silver and Crystal, shiny Pokémon don’t have unusual stats, though; they’re just like any other Pokémon except for their colours.  I suppose I would say that the odd pigmentation is just the result of some rare recessive gene, like albinism, or Elizabeth Taylor’s famous violet eyes.  In some Pokémon, this unusual trait might guarantee them important leadership positions, in other species, it might make them pariahs, in still others it might be ignored completely.

I noticed what you thought of Krabby and Sandshrew, finding them kind of boring, so I wanted to ask about this topic… Take Dewgong for example, its an incredibly simple design but I really love it because its sleek and beautiful. I find myself liking Pokemon like that (Vulpix, Rapidash, Venemoth, Gengar…). More recent Pokemon seem to have overly bright colors and contrasts and cluttered patterns that aren’t terrible, just not as appealing to me. What do you take from that in your opinion?

I have mixed feelings about this.  I actually prefer the more complex designs that tend to prevail in the later generations, but there’s definitely something to be said for simplicity.  It’s not just the art that bugs me about Krabby and Sandshrew, though – pretty much everything noteworthy about Krabby and Kingler’s abilities and behaviour is true of fiddler crabs as well.  Sandshrew and Sandslash are at least changed a little, because the animals they’re based on, pangolins, aren’t desert creatures, but they have a very generic set of “desert creature” traits.  Honestly I think that in some ways real pangolins are more interesting.  You can’t really make a complaint like that about Vulpix or Gengar.  Rapidash, Venomoth and Dewgong are sort of borderline cases (although, as a question of personal taste, I do have a soft spot for Venomoth and Dewgong).

Short answer: the art is only part of the question for me.

Sylveon is the English name for the new Eevee Evolution who is pink with butterfly ribbons, feminine features and a name similar to the name Sylvia… Do you think its possible that Sylveon might be a Normal-Type female only evolution and that there will also be a Normal-Tyle male only eevee evolution seeing as we’re talking about Pokemon X and Y? *cough* chromosomes *cough*

Well, sylphs are air spirits, so it actually makes me lean in the direction of Flying…

Okay, i know what you’re like, so i know your answer to begin with. But i was hoping you could explain WHY everyone is so negative to the idea of “light” type. I mean, it’s not asif it’s too similar to a type already and everyone saying it might ‘break’ the type chat more seem to be basing that on no logic whatsoever. The only other time they added more types (dark and steel) as to fix the thpe chart (abit)

Do you mean ‘negative’ or ‘skeptical’?  Those are two very different things, and there are people going both ways.

I’m not sure I can answer why people might be negative about it, because personally I’m not.  I might have said before that, if I were going to add a new type, I’d go with Light or Holy, although I don’t think the game needs it.  If they are going to add a new type, that’s fine by me.  I can only pray that it does a better job of creating balance than Steel did.

I’m skeptical that this is what they’re doing because I simply don’t think we have sufficient evidence to conclude something like that.  I’ve seen people’s arguments that Ninfia and Xerneas are Light-types, and they do not convince me.  I still think Ninfia is a Bug-type, and I have no clue what Xerneas is, but really, that means little.  How many people picked Palkia as a Water-type before Diamond and Pearl were released?  How many people were convinced Reshiram was going to be a Light-type?

Of course, I don’t think we have sufficient evidence to conclude that they’re not adding Light as an element either.  Since we’re all going to find out sooner or later, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about.  I am the very soul of apathy on this matter.

What’s your view on human-shape pokemon? I’ve always found the Mr. Mimes and Sawks of this world kind of odd, because they awkwardly are made to look human-but-not-quite. There’s always been a lot of lambasting of Jynx and Mime from the beginning, but Gamefreak seem happy to churn out a new human every generation (see Hitmons, Ralts line and Gothitelle). Why would it be beneficial for a pokemon to look like a person? And if they’re psychically/mentally superior why haven’t they taken over?

Well, Jynx gets flak because someone pointed out that she resembles an actor in blackface, and could therefore be interpreted as a racist caricature (personally I don’t think this is what they intended at all, but they could have been a little more careful with what they were doing), not necessarily because of the humanoid thing.  I think there is a degree of ‘uncanny valley’ in it, but then, people love Gardevoir (personally I think Gardevoir looks markedly less human than Jynx or Gothitelle, but whatever).  Personally, I get annoyed when they build Pokémon around elements of contemporary culture, like Gothitelle and Scrafty, because I think the ones that work with traditional culture and mythology are just more interesting and can also work more effectively with the idea of the massive cultural debt humans have to Pokémon in this universe, but I suppose maybe that’s just my personal taste.

I actually think “why would it be beneficial for a Pokemon to look like a person?” is a backwards way of looking at it, because the Pokémon may well have come first.  And we have that in the real world, actually; humans are just one of four surviving genera of great ape (the others being chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans), all of which bear marked physical similarities to us.  In this case, it’s because we share a common ancestor with them – is this true in the Pokémon world too?  Are humans related to Pokémon of the humanshape group?  Possibly; who knows?  And as for why they haven’t taken over – well, this applies equally to all Pokémon, and it links in with one of the most important questions of the setting: there are clearly a lot of things Pokémon do better than humans, so what is there that humans do better than Pokémon?  Personally I think the answer is related to creativity and leadership, but that’s a tricky one indeed.  You also have to question what is meant by “taking over” in this context – humans have a civilisation characterised by agriculture, industrialisation, art, education, and so on… but I have to wonder whether Pokémon would necessarily view any of these things as benchmarks of success.  If they simply didn’t want any of that, would that be enough to ‘prevent’ them from ‘taking over’?