Little things you like about Pokémon

[Karxrida]

So this one is more funny to me than anything.

Gengar can learn Counter in Gen I. That doesn't seem odd at first, except Gen I's version of the move only works when hit by Normal and Fighting attacks. That is a problem for obvious reasons.

However, due to the weird way damage is stored, the Pokémon using Counter doesn't technically have to be hit to get the move to work under certain conditions. If you bring in Gengar after your opponent scored a KO with Explosion or Self-destruct, you can Counter that damage. I believe that is the only way Gengar can use the move.

So either Game Freak knew about this specific and bizarre interaction when doling out movepools, purposely gave Gengar something they thought would be useless, or handed Counter to a Ghost due to an oversight.

 

[Hada Yaba]

Once upon a time in the world of Pokemon Red and Blue, there were dedicated 'evil' pokemon used only by the nefarious Team Rocket criminals. Raticate, Ekans, Weezing, Drowzee, Muk...Among the most notorious were the cave-dwelling monsters Zubat and Golbat, whose supersonics still traumatized Mt. Moon youngsters to this day. It is especially important to remember that they didn't look like

back then, more like

nsfw

Just a few years later, when Pokemon Gold and Silver released, the Zubat family were also lucky to receive an entirely new evolution...with the twist that golbat can only evolve with high happiness. Yes, that leech lifeing, super sonicing, team rocket spamming evil bat now only reaches true potential when it fully bonds with its trainer. To this day, I think this is one of the most wholesome 'secrets' in the series.

(Special shoutout goes to our boy Silver whose character arc was beautifully closed when his creepy golbat finally evolved into a majestic crobat)

 

[Imperial Magala]

Regieleki, Regidrago, and Enamorous being made is amazing to me since it means preexisting legendary/legendary adjacent groups can receive new members well past their introduction. While Enamorous was somewhat predicted due to the Forces of Nature's Therian Forms being based off of the 4 Gods, nobody would have guess it would be introduced in a 8th gen game based on Meji era Sinnoh. They even got counterparts in the Treasures of Ruin in Scarlet and Violet. It makes me wonder what other groups will receive new members in future games/DLC. While I've seen fanmade Paradox Pokemon that are based on Mega Evolutions, I'm wondering if we might see Paradoxes based on Gigantmax forms.

 

[R_N]

Regieleki, Regidrago, and Enamorous being made is amazing to me since it means preexisting legendary/legendary adjacent groups can receive new members well past their introduction. While Enamorous was somewhat predicted due to the Forces of Nature's Therian Forms being based off of the 4 Gods, nobody would have guess it would be introduced in a 8th gen game based on Meji era Sinnoh. They even got counterparts in the Treasures of Ruin in Scarlet and Violet. It makes me wonder what other groups will receive new members in future games/DLC. While I've seen fanmade Paradox Pokemon that are based on Mega Evolutions, I'm wondering if we might see Paradoxes based on Gigantmax forms.

To an extent, even the Beasts and Musketeers got new "members" with Walking Wake & Iron Leaves
Even if their situation's context is a bit different than the 2 new regi or Enamorus.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I don't know why someone at Game Freak decided to give each variation of Tauros a slightly different weight but keep the height the same, but I think it's very funny that they did.

 

[Coronis]

View attachment 523910

I don't know why someone at Game Freak decided to give each variation of Tauros a slightly different weight but keep the height the same, but I think it's very funny that they did.

Well their designs imply they should be different for sure.

 

[Karxrida]

I really appreciate how some moves have secondary attributes not tied to type or being Physical/Special, such as sound moves. This lets them interact with specific abilities and occasionally items, like wind moves (which actually have good type variety) being blocked by Wind Rider. More fun than blanket type immunity abilities like Levitate.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

MISTY'S FUCKING FACE I CAN'T

 

[DrPumpkinz]

In another installment of Pumpkin'z Quest Through the First Season of the Show to Find a Good Team Rocket Motto, episode nine is a spot-on parody of a Pokemon fandom that didn't even exist yet. "Oh, you're a Pokemon fan? List every move Pidgey learns via level-up and when." The setting is a damn university and they even have Pokemon Showdown.

 

[R_N]

So I was kicking around another list, when today they revealed all the Pokemon 151 cards and there was actually a little surprise: Daisy got a card

No not one of Misty's sisters from the anime, I mean Gary's sister

As far as "important npcs" go, she's the one who gives you the Town Map, checks happiness in FRLG, and will groom one of your Pokemon in both FRLG and the Johto games. She actually had a Fame Checker sprite and everything. Surprisingly wasnt in Let's Go at all...
But since she's kind of obscure in the grand scheme of things, she never got a card until now and is her first batch of official art. I think it's fun when the TCG digs deep like this.

 

[Karxrida]

So I was kicking around another list, when today they revealed all the Pokemon 151 cards and there was actually a little surprise: Daisy got a card

No not one of Misty's sisters from the anime, I mean Gary's sister

As far as "important npcs" go, she's the one who gives you the Town Map, checks happiness in FRLG, and will groom one of your Pokemon in both FRLG and the Johto games. She actually had a Fame Checker sprite and everything. Surprisingly wasnt in Let's Go at all...
But since she's kind of obscure in the grand scheme of things, she never got a card until now and is her first batch of official art. I think it's fun when the TCG digs deep like this.

In hindsight it's kind if weird how the English dub of the anime decided to name one of Misty's sisters after an already existing game character.

Yeah I know Gary's sister never shows up in the anime, but still.

 

[R_N]

In hindsight it's kind if weird how the English dub of the anime decided to name one of Misty's sisters after an already existing game character.

Yeah I know Gary's sister never shows up in the anime, but still.

It's not that weird; she didn't have a name during Gen 1. The one named appearance she had in a spin off, Electric Tale of Pikachu, had a completely different name then what she would get in Gen 2.

And I'll give Gen 2 localizers a pass since it's not like Misty's sister was that important or that recurring a character that a quasi-important NPC couldn't overlap on a name.


Actually ....not sure she properly had a name in localization of Gen 2 while double checking the timeline...her name isn't mentioned in dialog at all? Even pulling out my old guide, she's only referred to as "Blue's Sister". How interesting. Also turns out she DOES have one other bit official art, from gen 1:

cute!

 

[Castersvarog]

Well their designs imply they should be different for sure.

Plus Aqua breed is described as being more fatty to help it float, seems likely that would affect its weight, meanwhile Battle has more denser muscles compared to the Normal type variant while Blaze almost looks the leanest of the bunch but is no less weaker for it. It’s pretty interesting way to differentiate the four further.

One thing I’ve been thinking about recently is that Seadra is the only non-poison type with poison point as its ability. Which I think is just a really interesting to do as outside of that the evolution line doesn’t have anything to do with the type, not even learning poison type moves like sludge bomb.
It’s almost like they wanted Seadra to be more of a poison type when they made it but decided against it because of the over saturation of the type; Or because they wanted to do a something with the whole baby dragons are seahorses in some Asian cultures angle but still wanted to call back to that via the ability.

I don’t know, it’s just so interesting because you just don’t see this with stuff like flame body or static.
Heck, maybe a Poison/water type regional variant could be a thing someday?

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I've known about the shot where Brock insists that rice balls are jelly donuts for a while, but I never knew that the shot immediately preceding it established that they do in fact have "jelly" inside them. (Also this isn't even the first time they're called jelly donuts in the show).

 

[misterdarvus]

View attachment 525400

One thing I’ve been thinking about recently is that Seadra is the only non-poison type with poison point as its ability. Which I think is just a really interesting to do as outside of that the evolution line doesn’t have anything to do with the type, not even learning poison type moves like sludge bomb.
It’s almost like they wanted Seadra to be more of a poison type when they made it but decided against it because of the over saturation of the type; Or because they wanted to do a something with the whole baby dragons are seahorses in some Asian cultures angle but still wanted to call back to that via the ability.

I don’t know, it’s just so interesting because you just don’t see this with stuff like flame body or static.
Heck, maybe a Poison/water type regional variant could be a thing someday?

I think it's because the dex entry refers being poisonous, while not being poison-type

Yellow	Touching the back fin causes numbness. It hooks its tail to coral to stay in place while sleeping.
Stadium	A clever Pokémon that can swim backwards while facing forward. Fainting may result from a jab of its sharp spikes.

Interestingly, in gen 1 it just refers it spikes as causing numbness and fainting, while starting in gen 2 and forward, it refers as straight up poisonous, despite Kingdra introduction and is not a poison-type

Silver	Its fin tips leak poison. Its fins and bones are highly valued as ingredients in herbal medicine.
Crystal	The male raises the young. If it is approached, it uses its toxic spikes to fend off the intruder.

For compromise, GF might decide to give Seadra poison point as ability. But it still weird that Seadra is the only poisonous one from its family

 

[Magcargo]

In the face of all the powercreep over the gens, esp in gen 9 which is seen as one of the most powercrept gens (or rather powered down gens due to most older Pokemon being nerfed), seeing the OG psuedo, Dragonite, be a contender as one of the strongest Pokemon in the game next to the newcomers, Bax and Dragapult, is a great sight to see. Its especially awesome since it was a joke the first 3 gens, so its position has somewhat reversed, with it being much stronger now than it was previously.

 

[Imperial Magala]

In the face of all the powercreep over the gens, esp in gen 9 which is seen as one of the most powercrept gens (or rather powered down gens due to most older Pokemon being nerfed), seeing the OG psuedo, Dragonite, be a contender as one of the strongest Pokemon in the game next to the newcomers, Bax and Dragapult, is a great sight to see. Its especially awesome since it was a joke the first 3 gens, so its position has somewhat reversed, with it being much stronger now than it was previously.

Imagine telling people back in Gen 4 competitive Dragonite is the strongest Psedo-legendary in Gen 9 and Garchomp is powercrept into being almost UU/UUBL.

 

[MoonlightRose]

Volcarona at the bottom of Relic Castle, especially in Black and White where it's a post game only level 70 similar to the legendary Kyurem. It feels right.

 

[PokemonCrusader]

View attachment 525399

I've known about the shot where Brock insists that rice balls are jelly donuts for a while, but I never knew that the shot immediately preceding it established that they do in fact have "jelly" inside them. (Also this isn't even the first time they're called jelly donuts in the show).

As a kid, I never thought they were always but donuts due to the design.

While the dub didn't need to change the name from rice balls to donuts, the substitution, at least, made visual sense.

 

[R_N]

As a kid, I never thought they were always but donuts due to the design.

While the dub didn't need to change the name from rice balls to donuts, the substitution, at least, made visual sense.

Yeah I always just wrote it off as like fully sugar coated donuts and never second guessed it, since I never paid close attention to the textures or anything

Why are they triangular? I duno, cartoons.
Why do they have the seaweed? Because i thought it was like either a napkin or something like fondant or whatever.

It's ridiculous when you know what it really is but I think most kids saw it and jsut accepted it at face value.

 

[Sonikku A]

Gen 3 4Kids either
-Actually physically edited it to be other food (one time a cracker, which I feel improved the sense of desperation Team Rocket had that ep)
-Actually say/use riceball. Jessie's Seviper introduction ep notably does
Even Gen 1, Pokemon Paparazzi uses riceball, so it seems to be a case by case thing if they can sneak it casually

 

[guys the ret]

Volcarona at the bottom of Relic Castle, especially in Black and White where it's a post game only level 70 similar to the legendary Kyurem. It feels right.

They're both Ubers now, so it certainly feels right.
Although a regular Pokemon so rare and powerful it was worshipped as a god is a cool idea.

 

[pika pal]

I still sometimes wonder what prompted the Rice Ball rewrite, like if that was 4Kids thinking kids wouldn't recognize the food or some weird kid show rules about how other cultures could be depicted on Kids TV in the US in the 90's or something (I've heard of weirder things), primarily because of the inconsistency. Like if it had been "Donuts" in random eating scenes and Rice Balls when they were at the clearly-Japanese festivals or such I wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

That said this was a funny bit that came out of it.

 

[R_N]

I still sometimes wonder what prompted the Rice Ball rewrite, like if that was 4Kids thinking kids wouldn't recognize the food or some weird kid show rules about how other cultures could be depicted on Kids TV in the US in the 90's or something (I've heard of weirder things), primarily because of the inconsistency. Like if it had been "Donuts" in random eating scenes and Rice Balls when they were at the clearly-Japanese festivals or such I wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

That said this was a funny bit that came out of it.

I think some networks did have a weird thing with culture stuff like this, but also 4Kids in general was extremely weird about it. I swear there's a quote about how like people wouldn't understand it at all so they just removed it all. Which got very funny when they would start removing the fake language they implemented later.

And inconsistent. Gotta remove all traces of japanese writing but yes this explicit japanese festival can remain unaltered. Applies to their other properties too, just look at the inconsistency in localizing stuff like YuGiOh names.

 

[pika pal]

And inconsistent. Gotta remove all traces of japanese writing but yes this explicit japanese festival can remain unaltered. Applies to their other properties too, just look at the inconsistency in localizing stuff like YuGiOh names.

From rumors I have heard, the writing blank outs were apparently because 4Kids would shop their footage around to either their subsidaries or other networks for use in different countries/languages, so removing the signage was to make it easier for other versions wanting to insert imagery or native writing into those releases, or that otherwise didn't think the Japanese text would fit themselves (which I guess KIND OF would make sense in other shows like Sonic X which had less recognizably Japanese settings or locales). That's probably also why they replaced fake language/gibberish with the blanks since it would be equally if not more intrusive in a lot of cases.

On the Yugioh example, my guess is just that it was the make the names easier to follow for the kid audience they were marketing to: Most of the Japanese names that stayed intact were simple 2-syllable names with distinct pronunciations to the parts (Yugi, Kaiba, Marik, etc), while names that were changed might have been ones that could mix up kids (Jonouchi to Joey removes a syllable, and is easier to spell/read/say for typical English speakers, for example). I chalk this more up to having a meta idea in mind for easier marketing/word-of-mouth over forward thinking with the material: things like giving Joey a Brooklyn accent to be more local and "rough" make sense as localization until a filler arc involves the characters traveling from Japan to America, for example.

It's kind of an interesting study because these were their two earliest "big hit" dubs, and there's a sharp contrast between how the localization was handled given the different "base" demographics in Japan and what the cuts entailed: Pokemon tweaked characterizations but kept the events mostly the same due to its simple episodic story structure, while YGO had to explicitly write around plot elements like kidnapping and death, albeit sometimes to the benefit of the story without knowing it for the ongoing continuity.