Weird theories.

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

I've always thought this about stone-based and generally manmade evolutions in general. They're short-cutting a natural process that in the wild might take years. Growlithe probably evolves into Arcanine naturally but it takes years of exposure to heat and sun and various elemental energies that are too specific or dangerous to replicate in captivity. Similarly for trade evolutions, this is stated in canon to be "a burst of energy" so there's no reason this couldn't happen under specific conditions in the wild.

We even see this happen in canon; in the manga Gold's Sunkern evolves after receiving a large and very strong dose of sunlight, which is stated to replicate the properties of a Sun Stone.

Ooh, when you mentioned manmade Pokemon, I remembered another one.

What if Magnemite is extraterrestrial in origin? Magnemite is present in carvings in the Ruins of Alph and retellings of the Kalos war. Since this makes Magnemite at minimum 3000 years old, humans wouldn't have the supplies necessary to create them. They can also levitate and are attracted to magnetic fields. What if, some space-faring race had somehow lost track of a handful, and they just levitated towards the Earth's magnetic field? Magnemite (or Magneton, don't remember which) supposedly become much more common depending on sunspot behavior. Maybe they're meant to study something related to the sun and got lost, or just so happened to have earth on their course on the way there.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

So some of the later games have been fairly explicit about which Pokemon the fossils are related to, which is interesting.

Omastar Ultra Sun Pokedex entry: Its heavy shell is thought to be the reason this ancient Pokémon died out. It's apparently a distant ancestor of Octillery.

Tirtouga Shield Pokedex entry: Tirtouga is considered to be the ancestor of many turtle Pokémon. It was restored to life from a fossil.

Archen Ultra Sun Pokedex entry: Once thought to be the ancestor of all bird Pokémon, some of the latest research suggests that may not be the case.

Armaldo Ultra Moon Pokedex entry: Armaldo adapted from living in water to living on land. It has been determined that it is the ancestor of some bug Pokémon.

Anorith Shield Pokedex entry: Anorith can swim swiftly by pulling its eight wings through the water like oars on a boat. This Pokémon is an ancestor of modern bug Pokémon.

Pokedex entries have yielded some other tidbits, like Drowzee and Munna apparently deriving from the same ancestral line, Venipede and Sizzlipede being distantly related, as well as Gastrodon being a relative of Shellder and Cloyster (that one surprised me). So with this in mind, I thought it'd be interesting to speculate on which Pokemon the other fossil Pokemon might be the progenitors of.

I've read in the past (and I can't remember where if anyone can clue me in) that all Pokemon are - however distantly - related, but obviously some are more closely related than others. But they are all one species. There may be a wide evolutionary gulf between, say, Sandaconda and Staraptor, but fundamentally they are the same type of being. This is confirmed more obliquely by Mew's DNA containing the essence of all Pokemon (which I am aware makes very little biological sense but I think it's clear what they were going for with this) and its ability to use every move. I've seen several fan-made phylogenetic trees which link together Pokemon of similar biological categories (such as frog Pokemon, cat Pokemon, and so on) and most of them are pretty plausible. This is more or less an extension of the same idea.

Obligatory disclaimer that this is, in the main, baseless speculation based off of quick searches of Bulbapedia, but I'm curious as to what other people think. We may not ever get official confirmation on most of these, but the confirmations above make me wonder if the intention was for fans to speculate on other possible links between species.


Omanyte Line
As stated, it's thought to be related to Octillery. But the body shape evokes squid-shaped Pokemon, so might it also be an evolutionary relative of Grapploct and Clobbopus, or perhaps even Inkay and Malamar? Tentacool and Tentacruel seem likely relatives too.

Kabuto Line
Based on the body shape, I'd say Kabutops is most likely a distant ancestor of Scyther despite being a Water Pokemon. But its Ultra Sun Pokedex entry gives an interesting hint: Its body had begun to change so it could function on land. But it didn't adapt in time and went extinct.

Aerodactyl
In real life, pterodactyls are more closely related to reptiles than birds. With this in mind, could Aerodactyl be the forerunner of various lizard Pokemon like Sceptile, Helioptile, Inteleon, or perhaps even Charizard?

Lileep line
Lileep and Cradily are barnacles, and there's one major other barnacle Pokemon line: Binacle and Barbaracle. I could buy this tbh, there's a very, very passing resemblance, but Barbaracle has a much more compact and efficient design which could explain why it has thrived and Cradily did not.

Anorith line
The Pokedex references "bugs" without specifying which, but I think there's a passing resemblance from Armaldo to Scizor; references that it evolved to walk on land and developed a tough hide are interesting in light of today's reveal of Kleavor as well as the link to Kabutops. I wonder if BDSP will shed any light on that. But there's also Shuckle which, curiously, shares the Bug/Rock typing but has the same association with the sea - it's found in coastal areas, and bizarrely is a sea Pokemon in the Pal Park.

Cranidos line
There's a slight resemblance from Cranidos to various other dino-Pokemon, like Nidoking. Beyond that, many of Rampardos' dex entries are reminiscent of Rhyhorn - it's described as a deeply stupid Pokemon which only knows how to ram and charge, and has a physically tiny brain. Perhaps there's a link?

Shieldon line
Aggron line. Gotta be, right? They share a typing and are conceptually fairly similar. I could go either way on this, though.

Archen line
There's so many birds I'm not sure I could even start with Archen. Conceptually, the idea of it being the first bird Pokemon (which one of its dex entries disputes) would canonically relate it to all the bird Pokemon in the games, so it's kind of redundant to try and link it to just one.

Tirtouga line
Stated to be the ancestor to modern turtles, and there's so many of those - Chewtle, Squirtle, Turtwig, Torkoal, Turtonator, even Lapras if you squint. I think this one is the most cut and dry.

Amaura line
Now this one I'm kind of stumped on. There's no reason this has to be related to any other Ice Pokemon - much as with Cranidos and Tyrunt, it conceivably could be linked to any dinosaur or draconic Pokemon we already have. Kind of drawing a blank here, tbh.

Tyrunt line
Much like the Archen line, I could see the Tyrunt line being the progenitor of all modern Dragon/dinosaur Pokemon like Charizard, Rhyhorn, and Druddigon. This one's quite broad. Perhaps even Ampharos, since the Ultra Moon dex entry for its Mega mentions that it descended from dragons:
Massive amounts of energy intensely stimulated Ampharos's cells, apparently awakening its long-sleeping dragon's blood.

Genesect
This one's interesting. There's actually a passing resemblance between Genesect and Kabutops - and again with Scyther. Perhaps as with some of the others, it's an ancestor of many vicious Bug-types - Escavalier has the conceptual link of blades and sharpness, Accelgor is quick and wily, Beedrill is a crafty hunter, and so on.

 

[TerrickTerran]

There's also the possibility that some of the lines simply went extinct. Also it's not unusual for diverse things to come from one ancestor, for instance cats, dogs and bears all came from the same mammal creature millions of years ago before they started splitting into their eventual forms.

 

[Ironmage]

So some of the later games have been fairly explicit about which Pokemon the fossils are related to, which is interesting.

Omastar Ultra Sun Pokedex entry: Its heavy shell is thought to be the reason this ancient Pokémon died out. It's apparently a distant ancestor of Octillery.

Tirtouga Shield Pokedex entry: Tirtouga is considered to be the ancestor of many turtle Pokémon. It was restored to life from a fossil.

Archen Ultra Sun Pokedex entry: Once thought to be the ancestor of all bird Pokémon, some of the latest research suggests that may not be the case.

Armaldo Ultra Moon Pokedex entry: Armaldo adapted from living in water to living on land. It has been determined that it is the ancestor of some bug Pokémon.

Anorith Shield Pokedex entry: Anorith can swim swiftly by pulling its eight wings through the water like oars on a boat. This Pokémon is an ancestor of modern bug Pokémon.

Pokedex entries have yielded some other tidbits, like Drowzee and Munna apparently deriving from the same ancestral line, Venipede and Sizzlipede being distantly related, as well as Gastrodon being a relative of Shellder and Cloyster (that one surprised me). So with this in mind, I thought it'd be interesting to speculate on which Pokemon the other fossil Pokemon might be the progenitors of.

I've read in the past (and I can't remember where if anyone can clue me in) that all Pokemon are - however distantly - related, but obviously some are more closely related than others. But they are all one species. There may be a wide evolutionary gulf between, say, Sandaconda and Staraptor, but fundamentally they are the same type of being. This is confirmed more obliquely by Mew's DNA containing the essence of all Pokemon (which I am aware makes very little biological sense but I think it's clear what they were going for with this) and its ability to use every move. I've seen several fan-made phylogenetic trees which link together Pokemon of similar biological categories (such as frog Pokemon, cat Pokemon, and so on) and most of them are pretty plausible. This is more or less an extension of the same idea.

Obligatory disclaimer that this is, in the main, baseless speculation based off of quick searches of Bulbapedia, but I'm curious as to what other people think. We may not ever get official confirmation on most of these, but the confirmations above make me wonder if the intention was for fans to speculate on other possible links between species.


Omanyte Line
As stated, it's thought to be related to Octillery. But the body shape evokes squid-shaped Pokemon, so might it also be an evolutionary relative of Grapploct and Clobbopus, or perhaps even Inkay and Malamar? Tentacool and Tentacruel seem likely relatives too.

Kabuto Line
Based on the body shape, I'd say Kabutops is most likely a distant ancestor of Scyther despite being a Water Pokemon. But its Ultra Sun Pokedex entry gives an interesting hint: Its body had begun to change so it could function on land. But it didn't adapt in time and went extinct.

Aerodactyl
In real life, pterodactyls are more closely related to reptiles than birds. With this in mind, could Aerodactyl be the forerunner of various lizard Pokemon like Sceptile, Helioptile, Inteleon, or perhaps even Charizard?

Lileep line
Lileep and Cradily are barnacles, and there's one major other barnacle Pokemon line: Binacle and Barbaracle. I could buy this tbh, there's a very, very passing resemblance, but Barbaracle has a much more compact and efficient design which could explain why it has thrived and Cradily did not.

Anorith line
The Pokedex references "bugs" without specifying which, but I think there's a passing resemblance from Armaldo to Scizor; references that it evolved to walk on land and developed a tough hide are interesting in light of today's reveal of Kleavor as well as the link to Kabutops. I wonder if BDSP will shed any light on that. But there's also Shuckle which, curiously, shares the Bug/Rock typing but has the same association with the sea - it's found in coastal areas, and bizarrely is a sea Pokemon in the Pal Park.

Cranidos line
There's a slight resemblance from Cranidos to various other dino-Pokemon, like Nidoking. Beyond that, many of Rampardos' dex entries are reminiscent of Rhyhorn - it's described as a deeply stupid Pokemon which only knows how to ram and charge, and has a physically tiny brain. Perhaps there's a link?

Shieldon line
Aggron line. Gotta be, right? They share a typing and are conceptually fairly similar. I could go either way on this, though.

Archen line
There's so many birds I'm not sure I could even start with Archen. Conceptually, the idea of it being the first bird Pokemon (which one of its dex entries disputes) would canonically relate it to all the bird Pokemon in the games, so it's kind of redundant to try and link it to just one.

Tirtouga line
Stated to be the ancestor to modern turtles, and there's so many of those - Chewtle, Squirtle, Turtwig, Torkoal, Turtonator, even Lapras if you squint. I think this one is the most cut and dry.

Amaura line
Now this one I'm kind of stumped on. There's no reason this has to be related to any other Ice Pokemon - much as with Cranidos and Tyrunt, it conceivably could be linked to any dinosaur or draconic Pokemon we already have. Kind of drawing a blank here, tbh.

Tyrunt line
Much like the Archen line, I could see the Tyrunt line being the progenitor of all modern Dragon/dinosaur Pokemon like Charizard, Rhyhorn, and Druddigon. This one's quite broad. Perhaps even Ampharos, since the Ultra Moon dex entry for its Mega mentions that it descended from dragons:
Massive amounts of energy intensely stimulated Ampharos's cells, apparently awakening its long-sleeping dragon's blood.

Genesect
This one's interesting. There's actually a passing resemblance between Genesect and Kabutops - and again with Scyther. Perhaps as with some of the others, it's an ancestor of many vicious Bug-types - Escavalier has the conceptual link of blades and sharpness, Accelgor is quick and wily, Beedrill is a crafty hunter, and so on.

Just feel like I should drop in some more info based on real taxonomy and mon egg groups

• The Shellos and Shellder lines are presumably related because they are both molluscs, though it does raise the question of why they're specifically grouping a gastropod and a bivalve with no mention of a cephalopod. They also can't breed with each other, since Shellder is only in water 3 and Gastrodon is in water 1/amorphous
• Omastar is a mollusc, and could reasonably related to other cephalopods like Inkay, but would not normally have any relation to cnidarians like the Tentacool line. Both Omanyte and Tentacool are in water 3, but omanyte is also in water 1 with Octillery, Inkay (both water 1/water 2), and Grapploct (water 1/human shape), while Tentacool is not.
• The horseshoe crab (Kabuto's inspiration) is actually closer to arachnids than other types of currently existing arthropods. I've now noticed that both Kabuto and several fully evolved arachnid mons (including ariados, drapion, and galvantula) have four legs. Conveniently, Skorupi is also in the Water 3 group with most of the invertebrate fossils.
• The Lilleep line are not barnacles. They're sea lilies. This puts them in the group with various starfish and sea cucumber mons rather than a particularly strange crustacean. Note that sea lilies are not an extinct group IRL. The only other echinoderm in water 3 (Lileep's only egg group) is the Staryu line which is implied to be extraterrestrial, so I don't think Lileep has direct ancestry to any other current mon.
• Anomalocaris IRL splits very early from the main arthropod branch, so it's difficult to tell what, if any, descendants Anorith would have from that. However, outside of Kabuto, Skorupi, and Anorith itself, every arthropod in Anorith's only egg group of water 3 is a crustacean. The closest links to Armaldo would probably be Crawdaunt and Golisopod, though you could reasonably claim that Anorith is the common ancestor of all crustacean pokemon.
• It's hard to fully figure out what kind of arthropod Genesect is supposed to be, though bulbapedia suggests it's partially based on a treehopper since that family is known for large solid protrusions from the top of the thorax similar to Genesect's cannon mount. These are apparently related to cicadas. We could generalize that to including all hemiptera, which would allow it to be the ancestor of Surskit as well (there are no other mons in either the bug egg group or type that are based on hemiptera insects). Aside from telling us that Genesect is probably from Hoenn, it is interesting to note that the nincada line is one of only two bug type lines that appear in the Mineral egg group (via shedinja, that is in mineral but not in bug with the rest of the line), so it's definitely possible that the family is more receptive than usual to the modifications Genesect underwent

I don't know enough about vertabrate taxonomy, and am not interested enough in it to scroll through wikipedia on that, so you're on your own for the less exciting fossils.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Just feel like I should drop in some more info based on real taxonomy and mon egg groups

Always appreciated

The horseshoe crab (Kabuto's inspiration) is actually closer to arachnids than other types of currently existing arthropods. I've now noticed that both Kabuto and several fully evolved arachnid mons (including ariados, drapion, and galvantula) have four legs. Conveniently, Skorupi is also in the Water 3 group with most of the invertebrate fossils.

Skorupi is a good shout, I'd overlooked that one.

The Lilleep line are not barnacles. They're sea lilies. This puts them in the group with various starfish and sea cucumber mons rather than a particularly strange crustacean. Note that sea lilies are not an extinct group IRL. The only other echinoderm in water 3 (Lileep's only egg group) is the Staryu line which is implied to be extraterrestrial, so I don't think Lileep has direct ancestry to any other current mon.

Lileep's Pokedex category is "Sea Lily Pokemon", but Cradily's is "Barnacle Pokemon". Game Freak may not be expert enough to differentiate, but Pokemon are also often based on more than one thing. They may not have direct ancestry to anything though (or at least not anything we've seen yet), not everything has to.

Anomalocaris IRL splits very early from the main arthropod branch, so it's difficult to tell what, if any, descendants Anorith would have from that. However, outside of Kabuto, Skorupi, and Anorith itself, every arthropod in Anorith's only egg group of water 3 is a crustacean. The closest links to Armaldo would probably be Crawdaunt and Golisopod, though you could reasonably claim that Anorith is the common ancestor of all crustacean pokemon.

It could be, though I'm considering what we're definitely told, which says that it's the ancestor of modern bug Pokemon without saying which ones. Krabby, Crawdaunt, and Golisopod all seem likely.

It's hard to fully figure out what kind of arthropod Genesect is supposed to be, though bulbapedia suggests it's partially based on a treehopper since that family is known for large solid protrusions from the top of the thorax similar to Genesect's cannon mount. These are apparently related to cicadas. We could generalize that to including all hemiptera, which would allow it to be the ancestor of Surskit as well (there are no other mons in either the bug egg group or type that are based on hemiptera insects). Aside from telling us that Genesect is probably from Hoenn, it is interesting to note that the nincada line is one of only two bug type lines that appear in the Mineral egg group (via shedinja, that is in mineral but not in bug with the rest of the line), so it's definitely possible that the family is more receptive than usual to the modifications Genesect underwent

Generally speaking, I'm not so sure egg groups are the most reliable indicator of what's related to what (though it is worth looking into). As you say, Shellder and Gastrodon cannot interbreed despite explicitly being linked as related species; similarly, Drowzee and Munna are in totally different egg groups, and there are turtle Pokemon all over the place - in the Monster, Grass, Water 1, and Field egg groups, and not all of them can interbreed. Taking Drowzee and Munna as an example, we can surmise that they have evolved from the same source but in radically different ways, likely due to evolutionary pressure: Drowzee became a humanshaped creature with resemblance to a tapir while Munna became a blobby tapir that levitates.

Particularly in light of what we know from regional forms, type seems less important as an indicator of a Pokemon's biology than, well, their actual biology. In this context, you could almost view types as a secondary feature. Vulpix shifted from Fire to Ice, Grimer acquired the Dark-type, and Exeggutor abandoned its Psychic powers and instead adopted the Dragon-type. But they're still the same creature overall.

 

[Appletun a la Mode]

Generally speaking, I'm not so sure egg groups are the most reliable indicator of what's related to what (though it is worth looking into). As you say, Shellder and Gastrodon cannot interbreed despite explicitly being linked as related species; similarly, Drowzee and Munna are in totally different egg groups, and there are turtle Pokemon all over the place - in the Monster, Grass, Water 1, and Field egg groups, and not all of them can interbreed. Taking Drowzee and Munna as an example, we can surmise that they have evolved from the same source but in radically different ways, likely due to evolutionary pressure: Drowzee became a humanshaped creature with resemblance to a tapir while Munna became a blobby tapir that levitates.

Particularly in light of what we know from regional forms, type seems less important as an indicator of a Pokemon's biology than, well, their actual biology. In this context, you could almost view types as a secondary feature. Vulpix shifted from Fire to Ice, Grimer acquired the Dark-type, and Exeggutor abandoned its Psychic powers and instead adopted the Dragon-type. But they're still the same creature overall.

so this is actually really cool, and i think ties back to an eevee discussion that happened up-thread.

the concept that there's an elemental energy at play that pokemon passively absorb through their environment--citing things like gold's sunkern., but also things like pancham which can only evolve with exposure to a dark type.

based on that, a pokemon's biology DOES develop irrespective of its type, so the same pokemon (EX: alolan vulpix) evolved due to a need for a specific biological niche (EX: vulpine predator) to be filled in the ecosystem. this is countered somewhat by the fact that regional forms can afaik all interbreed, which isn't often the case in convergent evolution irl (ex: moose and caribou cannot reproduce despite filling the same general role in their respective ecosystems)

this theory DOES explain the fact that wild eeveelutions are endlessly available even if they're marginally rarer than eevee. in SWSH the precedent has been set for them to be more common than some otherwise unremarkable single-stage pokemon, in fact, which lends credence to the theory that eevee, in an unmanipulated state, will gradually have this ambient elemental energy build up until it reaches a threshold that causes spontaneous evolution. we know now that fog & mist are heavily associated with fairy types so again we have a precedent set for where that particular type of energy comes from, since sylveon was the only real anomaly without an obvious 'energy' alignment like all the others.

 

[Nokocchi]

the concept that there's an elemental energy at play that pokemon passively absorb through their environment--citing things like gold's sunkern., but also things like pancham which can only evolve with exposure to a dark type.

Pangoro is based on a type of Japanese delinquent often seem in media, I'm guessing the joke of how it evolves is that the Dark type in your party is a bad influence on the young, impressionable Pancham and makes him end up that way.

 

[Appletun a la Mode]

Pangoro is based on a type of Japanese delinquent often seem in media, I'm guessing the joke of how it evolves is that the Dark type in your party is a bad influence on the young, impressionable Pancham and makes him end up that way.

oh, yeah, i'm aware!! but pancham undergoes a type change when it evolves, which (based on other dex entries like shelgon into salamence) affects its cellular structure.

 

[Sonikku A]

My bizarre yet feasible explanation for Kangaskhan having a baby when it hatches: the baby is actually a vestigial twin. All Kangaskhan eggs develop as a twin embryo, one simply overpowers and outgrows the other*. The underdeveloped twin becomes a parasite of the bigger twin. The bigger twin coddles and treats the smaller one like a child due to misplaced maternal bonding and subconscious womb guilt. 'Baby' Kanga never evolves into an 'Adult' Kanga because it technically is an adult. It absorbs all the energy from Mega Evolution to become strong and physically independent.

*Just to make this theory even kookier: the twins are of the opposite sex, and the female twin always overtakes the male in the womb. Hence why all Kangaskhan are female, the males never fully develop, except during Mega Evolution when the vestigial twin grows beyond infant size. They look different due to sexual dimorphism. In Ancient Kanto, this phenomena of female Kanga embryos taking all the resources and choking out the male embryos evolved because female Kanga could mate with other Pokemon in the Monster egg group, and having two sexes wasn't necessary for reproduction.

Fuck your sad ass Cubone theory

Actually eggs in pokemon aren't eggs...mostly for mammals
Noted in the 1996 Dex from the devs, AND subtly referenced in XY, the eggs are pokemon made incubators from grass and dirt. The actual baby mon is placed inside until they're old enough to no longer be fetal
Kanghaskhan just don't do this, since they already have a pouch for development of the baby

Though vestigial twin is a pretty freaky theory
Also note* the 1996 dex noted males exist. But then GSC happened
Also note* Nidorina/Nidoqueen being unable to breed WAS intentional, possibly to mimic how rhinos fail to breed in captivity

Now here's an implied theory based on external events
Hoenn has a subtle nuclear theme
In 2000, the Japanese were concerned over the newly established NUMO project for nuclear power, especially since the older generation still remembers the 2 nukes from WW2. GF seemed to equally be concerned, and the 3rd Gen needed a theme to distinguish it. So they had environmentalism noted across several NPCs, in addition to team Magma LITERALLY planning to blow up a volcano. The effects would be beyond catastrophic
At the same time, there were more direct nuclear references with some mons, mainly the Regis
-Regis all learn explosion at Level one. Since you never encounter them that low, you're forced to remember that explosion. Much like people remembering WW2's devastation...
Other military based moves are also common.
-Destruction Beam (Hyper Beam in Eng) is learned at Level 89. 8/9/1945 (if using MM/DD/YYYY) is the day the bombs were deployed on Nagasaki
-Lockon/Laser Eyes also is learned, relevant for military tech
-Ancient Power's name in Japan is a homophone for Nuclear power
- If the patterns are interpreted as letters, Rock is H, Ice is T, and Steel is O. HTO was a compound used in nukes
-Hoenn's inspiration for the region locale (Kyushu rotated 90 degrees) would have the Regi chambers right near Nagasaki, Miyazaki, and Ooita Prefectures. Areas where bombings occurred
-Incidentally, Regigigas' location is where the memorial in Cape Souya was held
-Accessing with Wailord and Relicanth are other refs. Warlord is the "Fatman" B-2 bomber, with Relicanth as a torpedo shaped weapon "Little Boy"
-Waiting 2 min for some of the Regis references the wait in bomb shelters
-the text on wall in Japan was "In this cave we have lived, and survived" which implies a major incident occurred. In this case, WW2 bombings
-using dig potentially refers to digging into air raid shelters
-The footprint shapes of the Regis is a stretch, but Rock looks like a town/establishment, Ice looks like a tiny bomb dropped, and Steel looks like the explosion radius from it
Gigas looks like an even bigger mushroom cloud,
And the Galar Titans have...nothing

But wait, Gen 8 takes place in Scottland. Doesn't that throw a wrench into this given its Regis?
Surpringly no, since Scottland has had a long history of the denuclearization of nuclear power. Even outright supporting Japan 2017 in not doing nuclear power. Which notably is in the middle of SwSh dev...
So potentially, the Regis and Hoenn in general were nuclear based for inspiration

This is all a touchy subject, so I doubt GF will ever confirm it

 

[Ironmage]

Actually eggs in pokemon aren't eggs...mostly for mammals
Noted in the 1996 Dex from the devs, AND subtly referenced in XY, the eggs are pokemon made incubators from grass and dirt. The actual baby mon is placed inside until they're old enough to no longer be fetal
Kanghaskhan just don't do this, since they already have a pouch for development of the baby

Though vestigial twin is a pretty freaky theory
Also note* the 1996 dex noted males exist. But then GSC happened
Also note* Nidorina/Nidoqueen being unable to breed WAS intentional, possibly to mimic how rhinos fail to breed in captivity

Now here's an implied theory based on external events
Hoenn has a subtle nuclear theme
In 2000, the Japanese were concerned over the newly established NUMO project for nuclear power, especially since the older generation still remembers the 2 nukes from WW2. GF seemed to equally be concerned, and the 3rd Gen needed a theme to distinguish it. So they had environmentalism noted across several NPCs, in addition to team Magma LITERALLY planning to blow up a volcano. The effects would be beyond catastrophic
At the same time, there were more direct nuclear references with some mons, mainly the Regis
-Regis all learn explosion at Level one. Since you never encounter them that low, you're forced to remember that explosion. Much like people remembering WW2's devastation...
Other military based moves are also common.
-Destruction Beam (Hyper Beam in Eng) is learned at Level 89. 8/9/1945 (if using MM/DD/YYYY) is the day the bombs were deployed on Nagasaki
-Lockon/Laser Eyes also is learned, relevant for military tech
-Ancient Power's name in Japan is a homophone for Nuclear power
- If the patterns are interpreted as letters, Rock is H, Ice is T, and Steel is O. HTO was a compound used in nukes
-Hoenn's inspiration for the region locale (Kyushu rotated 90 degrees) would have the Regi chambers right near Nagasaki, Miyazaki, and Ooita Prefectures. Areas where bombings occurred
-Incidentally, Regigigas' location is where the memorial in Cape Souya was held
-Accessing with Wailord and Relicanth are other refs. Warlord is the "Fatman" B-2 bomber, with Relicanth as a torpedo shaped weapon "Little Boy"
-Waiting 2 min for some of the Regis references the wait in bomb shelters
-the text on wall in Japan was "In this cave we have lived, and survived" which implies a major incident occurred. In this case, WW2 bombings
-using dig potentially refers to digging into air raid shelters
-The footprint shapes of the Regis is a stretch, but Rock looks like a town/establishment, Ice looks like a tiny bomb dropped, and Steel looks like the explosion radius from it
Gigas looks like an even bigger mushroom cloud,
And the Galar Titans have...nothing

But wait, Gen 8 takes place in Scottland. Doesn't that throw a wrench into this given its Regis?
Surpringly no, since Scottland has had a long history of the denuclearization of nuclear power. Even outright supporting Japan 2017 in not doing nuclear power. Which notably is in the middle of SwSh dev...
So potentially, the Regis and Hoenn in general were nuclear based for inspiration

This is all a touchy subject, so I doubt GF will ever confirm it

All I can think of is that while Scotland doesn't have any history with nuclear weapons, there was a Scottish island that was only relatively recently cleaned up from testing done with Anthrax. So there really needed to have been a Poison regi there to fully complete this.

 

[Sonikku A]

Would be better than...Regidrago being a charizard head...

 

[Pikachu315111]

Actually eggs in pokemon aren't eggs...mostly for mammals
Noted in the 1996 Dex from the devs, AND subtly referenced in XY, the eggs are pokemon made incubators from grass and dirt. The actual baby mon is placed inside until they're old enough to no longer be fetal

Source (as in a link to the 1996 dex entry that mentions this)? I don't think the concept of Pokemon Eggs even existed in 1996, or rather how we know them now. Back then it was probably assumed mammal Pokemon gave life birth like real mammals do, hence Cubone's confusing Dex entries (as well as Kangaskhan).

Also note* Nidorina/Nidoqueen being unable to breed WAS intentional, possibly to mimic how rhinos fail to breed in captivity

I think it's more meant to be a menopause analogy as Nidoran females are able to breed just fine.

Hoenn has a subtle nuclear theme

In 2000, the Japanese were concerned over the newly established NUMO project for nuclear power, especially since the older generation still remembers the 2 nukes from WW2. GF seemed to equally be concerned, and the 3rd Gen needed a theme to distinguish it. So they had environmentalism noted across several NPCs, in addition to team Magma LITERALLY planning to blow up a volcano. The effects would be beyond catastrophic

While it was an environmental issue that GF drew inspiration from for Hoenn's theme, it didn't have anything to do with nuclear power.

At the same time, there were more direct nuclear references with some mons, mainly the Regis

Certainly an interesting theory, especially with the location match-up with certain important sites... though I still think this is a hard sale. A lot of the Move stuff can be explained away. And if its such a touchy subject, why would GF even reference it in the first place?

 

[R_N]

Source (as in a link to the 1996 dex entry that mentions this)? I don't think the concept of Pokemon Eggs even existed in 1996, or rather how we know them now. Back then it was probably assumed mammal Pokemon gave life birth like real mammals do, hence Cubone's confusing Dex entries (as well as Kangaskhan).

We know Eggs were conceptualized as part of the capumon proposal so I imagine stuff like that was on their minds and further explored as they started production on "Pokemon 2", which was originally intended for the end of 97.

I can fully believe that the weird egg-but-not thing stuck with them since then.

 

[Sonikku A]

Source (as in a link to the 1996 dex entry that mentions this)? I don't think the concept of Pokemon Eggs even existed in 1996, or rather how we know them now. Back then it was probably assumed mammal Pokemon gave life birth like real mammals do, hence Cubone's confusing Dex entries (as well as Kangaskhan).

The 1996 Pokedex book was exclusive in Japan, written by the GF staff. It was translated by Nob recently

Some more tidbits
-Water faring Pokemon are closer to their IRL counterparts, due to the oceans habitat not changing as much as the land
-Scyther and Electabuzz hate red. This was adapted in the anime, and a sneaky ref to Pokemon Red's exclusivity
Pinsir inversely likes Green, being a Green exclusive mon until Japan Blue
-Machoke is referred to being useful for heavy cargo. Which we see in RS (replaced with Vigoroth in Emerald)....
-Machamp and Golem are noticeably referred to each other for trade evos. It seem GF intended for the trade evo to be specific for them (hence golem gaining red eyes and more lizard features from Machoke, while Machamp gained 4 arms from Graveler), though limitations caused it to be a regular trade evo
Took till Gen 5 to have a trade evo function like that for Shelmet
-Raichu was cucked from the beginning in terms of Pikachu being too cute to evolve among trainers
-A kid turning into Kadabra was simply meant to be the retelling of the fictional novel "Metamorphasis", though text space caused most of the dex entries to be shortened to be literal
-Dragonite is referred to as "the God of Destruction"

As for the egg comment, XY in particular:

According to a Monsieur in Coumarine City, Eggs are not actually eggs and are more like "cradles".

And references of eggs in the games for mammals have been strictly inconclusive due to not seeing this process (hence Elm researching it)
the 1996 dex book also refers to actual eggs directly for reptilian, aquatic, and avian species, in addition to Chansey and Exeggecute, suggesting that most other species birth naturally

 

[King Feraligatr]

Throw all the salt at me that you want, but I do enable Nidorina and Nidoqueen to breed in my hacks. Works pretty well, it seems. But do continue.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Throw all the salt at me that you want, but I do enable Nidorina and Nidoqueen to breed in my hacks. Works pretty well, it seems. But do continue.

We get it, you make hacks.

 

[King Feraligatr]

We get it, you make hacks.

Guess that's a hint to never mention it again...

 

[Pikachu315111]

The 1996 Pokedex book was exclusive in Japan, written by the GF staff. It was translated by Nob recently

Um, I knew that. I was asking specifically asking for the Egg Trivia specifically. I did a dull analysis of each video when they came out on stuff that was at least interesting to me, but I guess the Egg trivia just went passed me.

Throw all the salt at me that you want, but I do enable Nidorina and Nidoqueen to breed in my hacks. Works pretty well, it seems. But do continue.

I think it's silly too and something that should be retconned. Though until then I've come up with a theory why Nidorina and Nidoqueen can't breed yet their dex entries mentions caring for their offspring.

Guess that's a hint to never mention it again...

Unless you feels its necessary or adds to the discussion.

 

[King Feraligatr]

Unless you feels its necessary or adds to the discussion.

I don't think Pumpkinz likes hacks to begin with.

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

I have another theory, a bit of a simple one:

Voltorb is negatively charged, Electrode positive. That's why the former is pissed off and the latter has a giant grin. Might also explain why the colors are swapped upon evolving.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I have another theory, a bit of a simple one:

Voltorb is negatively charged, Electrode positive. That's why the former is pissed off and the latter has a giant grin. Might also explain why the colors are swapped upon evolving.

Well, that's certainly taking a literal interpretation of positive and negative.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

So I've been playing a fair bit of Pokemon XD recently and I know it was never going to happen but it would have be very, very cool if one of the top-ranked 8 greatest trainers the anime has shown turned out to resemble Eldes. I guess if you squint the one fourth from the left could be him, and that's enough for my headcanon to work. I doubt we'll ever see the other five of this lineup in detail (although how... ahem... interesting that they all appear to be male)

 

[R_N]

Considering the pose on the left most silhouette i would say that one is the token girl at least.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Hmm possibly. Just noticed it seems to be wearing a skirt so yes, probably the token girl.

Or a gay man, let's not make assumptions

Still a 1/8 gender ratio though which is pretty lame. Though I have always assumed that these aren't necessarily the 8 greatest trainers in the world, just the ones who care to spend their time competing professionally. My instinct is that there are ferociously powerful trainers all over the world who simply aren't interested in showing off their prowess in tournaments and have other things to do with their time. So I can safely assume a good ratio of those are women.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I guess if you squint the one fourth from the left could be him, and that's enough for my headcanon to work. I doubt we'll ever see the other five of this lineup in detail (although how... ahem... interesting that they all appear to be male)

Considering the pose on the left most silhouette i would say that one is the token girl at least.

Hmm possibly. Just noticed it seems to be wearing a skirt so yes, probably the token girl.

Or a gay man, let's not make assumptions

Still a 1/8 gender ratio though which is pretty lame.

... I don't think the generic silhouettes are meant to be taken at face value. It just means, aside from the identifiable Leon, Lance, and Raihan that there are 5 other trainers in Master Class. Being it's likely Ash is going to get into the Master Class, from how I'm taking it those 5 unknowns are likely still changing positions day-by-day.