SPOILERS! Mysteries and Conspiracies of Pokemon

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

Also, About the paradoxes, I am convinced they are the copy of real creatures only encounterable in the large part of area zero. For example, iron treads in the violet book is different than iron treads ingame. Feet aren't the same, tusks are a bit different and most of all it is in a forest, while we only have grass and caves in the explorable part of area zero. Also, I think that the gen9 Just started and that
-Or dlc2 brings a lot of lot of content, in which case it won't drop before April 2024, or more dlc are coming, in which case we'd get the "south of kalos" part of the map, altho gen6 remake are not coming before gen12 imo. Also, maybe we'll get some gen2 remakes this gen, with paradox suicune and entei and raikou bring in the plot, or we get a legend game in johto and we get to see which are the original three beasts that got the sane idea of staying in a tower burning. But i do think that dlc2 is bringing a lot in pladean scenario and therefore they'll drop in 2024

 

[R_N]

Has anyone talked about volo's group's arrival to hisui? It's interesting With the crushed boats and the ghost form of a boat visible in the mist only inside the violet dome that spawns magnemite evo line in pla. Plus the fact that they don't have a HQ in the region. It may be related to thundurus causing storms at the hisuian sea

Ginkgo Guild specifically was, iirc, just made of members from both the other clans into their own independent business.
The Old Verse confirms that the clans, when they were just one, came from across the sea & presumably came via Ginkgo Landing.
Thundurus being the cause of other, unrelated ship wrecks isn't a bad shot but considering all the ghosts and creepy arm land mass I think it's probably more meant to be spooky ghostly dealings.

If I had to guess, Ginter probably called the guild Ginkgo as a "hey we were one clan originally so be chill around us" type gesture to them being a neutral party. & they don't have a proper HQ (I guess the cart in Jubilife kind of counts?) less because it keeps getting destroyed and more just to reflect they travel the region.

Also, About the paradoxes, I am convinced they are the copy of real creatures only encounterable in the large part of area zero. For example, iron treads in the violet book is different than iron treads ingame. Feet aren't the same, tusks are a bit different and most of all it is in a forest, while we only have grass and caves in the explorable part of area zero. Also, I think that the gen9 Just started and that
-Or dlc2 brings a lot of lot of content, in which case it won't drop before April 2024, or more dlc are coming, in which case we'd get the "south of kalos" part of the map, altho gen6 remake are not coming before gen12 imo. Also, maybe we'll get some gen2 remakes this gen, with paradox suicune and entei and raikou bring in the plot, or we get a legend game in johto and we get to see which are the original three beasts that got the sane idea of staying in a tower burning. But i do think that dlc2 is bringing a lot in pladean scenario and therefore they'll drop in 2024

I don't think the amount of content will necessitate it being in April 2024

I think the jungles and such, are probably still meant to be there but for gameplay purposes we just don't see it as part of the crater's environment. Sort of like how presumably any given region has more towns, roads, forests, people, etc. The exaggerated proportions of Great Tusk/Iron Treads can also just be in-universe artistic interpretation from their breif encounters (or, depending on how cynically you want to go, in-universe stuff they made up )

 

[pika pal]

I think the jungles and such, are probably still meant to be there but for gameplay purposes we just don't see it as part of the crater's environment. Sort of like how presumably any given region has more towns, roads, forests, people, etc. The exaggerated proportions of Great Tusk/Iron Treads can also just be in-universe artistic interpretation from their breif encounters (or, depending on how cynically you want to go, in-universe stuff they made up )

New Conspiracy theory: There were Jungles in Area Zero but they died out into the open plains/crags because the Paradoxes disrupted the Crater's contained Ecosystem (given regardless of their "real" origin they're obviously Alien to Paldea with how the timelines line up). Slither Wing for example showing up along the top might have overfed on foliage or put too much stress on trees ala the Spotted Lanternfly problem in the US, not to mention just plain physical damage risk from their more aggressive behavior and competing for territory. Indirect effects could also include things like Great Tusk/Iron Treads forcing Pokemon from the Depths to the upper areas and turning THEM into unsustainable species there.

Another idea I have (definitely not original but I didn't get it from elsewhere at least): What if the Paradox Pokemon are just the result of prolonged exposure to Terastal Energy? Most of them bear a superficial-at-least resemblance to their original incarnations and always share one of their typings, sort of like mutations diverging into another species. Area Zero is rich with Terastal energy to the point of auto-recharging your Tera Orb, so Pokemon exposed to it in the depths where the Crystals are most plentiful may essentially be Terastalized to their DNA over time: Great Tusk is basically the result of Generations of Donphan stuck on Tera Fighting, for example. The Time Machine isn't necessarily pulling them out of time/creating them into existence, but rather blasts them with such a massive amount of Terastal Energy (as it uses for a Power Source) that the ball catches a Volcarona and out comes a Slither Wing

 

[R_N]

New Conspiracy theory: There were Jungles in Area Zero but they died out into the open plains/crags because the Paradoxes disrupted the Crater's contained Ecosystem (given regardless of their "real" origin they're obviously Alien to Paldea with how the timelines line up). Slither Wing for example showing up along the top might have overfed on foliage or put too much stress on trees ala the Spotted Lanternfly problem in the US, not to mention just plain physical damage risk from their more aggressive behavior and competing for territory. Indirect effects could also include things like Great Tusk/Iron Treads forcing Pokemon from the Depths to the upper areas and turning THEM into unsustainable species there.

iirc Heath's drawings of the main crater mostly align with what we see in the game
It's why I imagine if there's jungles its meant to be in a different section or, again, just left out for conservation reasons, with Heath's sketch aligning jus t so you have a thing to point at and go "i recgonize the thing"

Another idea I have (definitely not original but I didn't get it from elsewhere at least): What if the Paradox Pokemon are just the result of prolonged exposure to Terastal Energy? Most of them bear a superficial-at-least resemblance to their original incarnations and always share one of their typings, sort of like mutations diverging into another species. Area Zero is rich with Terastal energy to the point of auto-recharging your Tera Orb, so Pokemon exposed to it in the depths where the Crystals are most plentiful may essentially be Terastalized to their DNA over time: Great Tusk is basically the result of Generations of Donphan stuck on Tera Fighting, for example. The Time Machine isn't necessarily pulling them out of time/creating them into existence, but rather blasts them with such a massive amount of Terastal Energy (as it uses for a Power Source) that the ball catches a Volcarona and out comes a Slither Wing

That's not a bad idea (if nothing else, Herba Mystica can cause changes with prolonged exposure, surely so should terastalization...Kitakami even kind of plays with the idea), though it does bring up the question of why the other species in Area Zero are fine after all this time, why the Paradoxes seemingly stopped being around after Heath's investigation, why the Violet paradoxes turn into robots...

 

[pika pal]

That's not a bad idea (if nothing else, Herba Mystica can cause changes with prolonged exposure, surely so should terastalization...Kitakami even kind of plays with the idea), though it does bring up the question of why the other species in Area Zero are fine after all this time, why the Paradoxes seemingly stopped being around after Heath's investigation, why the Violet paradoxes turn into robots...

Apologies if any of these follow-up questions are answered, I haven't looked at SV lore in-depth in a bit.

While the imagery is apparent, does anything in game explicitly confirm the the Violet Paradoxes are outright mechanical, as opposed to organic creatures that have a very Robot-like appearance to them (I think on Pokemon like Metagross which have a full steel body but also are mentioned to have Brains and are just compared to Robots/Computers)?

And does anything confirm the Paradoxes weren't present after Heath's expedition, or just no reports of them since Area Zero where they were found is off-limits? People apparently didn't think anything too weird about the Quaking Earth Titan (compared to the other Titans at least) roaming around Asado Desert, despite clearly different Biology from Donphan beyond the massive size, so it's also possible Heath is the only one to have observed the Paradoxes closely enough to distinguish them and survived (even Sada/Turo seem to have had everyone involved die/leave the project by the time they would have rediscovered them and the AI was made to split the workload).

Regarding the non-Paradox Pokemon it might depend on how deep into the crater Heath made it, or tying into the concerns the AI expresses, my conjecture is that the Crystals are most dense in the depths, and thus most of the mutations happen down there and the Pokemon migrated upwards over time. AI Sada is worried about Great Tusk getting out of the crater, now here are Sandy Shocks and Slither Wing up by the entrance level and Roaring Moon hanging around a cave past the depths "ceiling."

Another theory is it also depend on how the populations reproduce, like maybe the "Paradox Terastalizing" occurs more when it stays within the Donphan family as opposed to Female Donphan/Male Girafarig offspring sharing Field Egg Group, or the opposite where hybridization allows the "mutated" Paradox genes easier expression (and lorewise would explain their sterile/No Egg group as opposed to a pure Gameplay choice). In humans you can have Chromosomal conditions/defects manifest more in one Biological Sex due to the Chromosome it appears on (Like something more common in Biological Males if it appears on the X Chromosome, where Males only have the one expressive Gene while Females can have both and one "carries" the gene without expressing over the regular one). Perhaps in a similar vein, Great Tusk emerges from Donphan/Girafarig resulting in Offspring that don't have a "regular" Donphan Chromosome in the pairing to cover for their Tusk genes, so theoretically depending on which of its own pair is passed by a Mother Donphan, a "litter" of offspring could be a mix of Phanphy and "Upcoming Tusk/Aluminum Wheel" hatchlings.

 

[R_N]

Apologies if any of these follow-up questions are answered, I haven't looked at SV lore in-depth in a bit.

While the imagery is apparent, does anything in game explicitly confirm the the Violet Paradoxes are outright mechanical, as opposed to organic creatures that have a very Robot-like appearance to them (I think on Pokemon like Metagross which have a full steel body but also are mentioned to have Brains and are just compared to Robots/Computers)?

They have LED eyes, have "start up" animations and some like Iron Bundle even have animations showing their mechanical insides (Iron Bundle's is connected by a big spring that bobs around) and are continually referred to as "objects" found in the book. The implication is they are actually mechanical; aside from Miraidon which is more cyborg I guess. Probably so the "we ran genetic testing and confirmed Miraidon is related to Cyclizar" thing works better at a glance.

And does anything confirm the Paradoxes weren't present after Heath's expedition, or just no reports of them since Area Zero where they were found is off-limits? People apparently didn't think anything too weird about the Quaking Earth Titan (compared to the other Titans at least) roaming around Asado Desert, despite clearly different Biology from Donphan beyond the massive size, so it's also possible Heath is the only one to have observed the Paradoxes closely enough to distinguish them and survived (even Sada/Turo seem to have had everyone involved die/leave the project by the time they would have rediscovered them and the AI was made to split the workload).

The stations were first established 87 years ago (jesus, that long? I knew it'd been a while but...) and none of the Paradoxes were found until the Professor started bringing them out of the machine. In the post game, Arven explicitly states that "wait, how could the expedition team have found the paradoxes if they weren't in Area Zero until my parent did it?"

The Titan roams the desert but they're treated as cryptids with only fuzzy pictures of them, and often hidden in sand storms. Bit of a gameplay/story segregation thing considering the size of the desert and visibility of everything.

Regarding the non-Paradox Pokemon it might depend on how deep into the crater Heath made it, or tying into the concerns the AI expresses, my conjecture is that the Crystals are most dense in the depths, and thus most of the mutations happen down there and the Pokemon migrated upwards over time. AI Sada is worried about Great Tusk getting out of the crater, now here are Sandy Shocks and Slither Wing up by the entrance level and Roaring Moon hanging around a cave past the depths "ceiling."

Heath made it to the depths of the area, there's talks about the crystals they found in the caves and such. Great Tusk/Iron Treads were up in the upper stratum. Sadly we don't get to read the other parts of the journal so the exact parts where they found the other paradoxes aren't known.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

New Conspiracy theory: There were Jungles in Area Zero but they died out into the open plains/crags because the Paradoxes disrupted the Crater's contained Ecosystem (given regardless of their "real" origin they're obviously Alien to Paldea with how the timelines line up). Slither Wing for example showing up along the top might have overfed on foliage or put too much stress on trees ala the Spotted Lanternfly problem in the US, not to mention just plain physical damage risk from their more aggressive behavior and competing for territory. Indirect effects could also include things like Great Tusk/Iron Treads forcing Pokemon from the Depths to the upper areas and turning THEM into unsustainable species there.

Another idea I have (definitely not original but I didn't get it from elsewhere at least): What if the Paradox Pokemon are just the result of prolonged exposure to Terastal Energy? Most of them bear a superficial-at-least resemblance to their original incarnations and always share one of their typings, sort of like mutations diverging into another species. Area Zero is rich with Terastal energy to the point of auto-recharging your Tera Orb, so Pokemon exposed to it in the depths where the Crystals are most plentiful may essentially be Terastalized to their DNA over time: Great Tusk is basically the result of Generations of Donphan stuck on Tera Fighting, for example. The Time Machine isn't necessarily pulling them out of time/creating them into existence, but rather blasts them with such a massive amount of Terastal Energy (as it uses for a Power Source) that the ball catches a Volcarona and out comes a Slither Wing

Then explain How is that possible if nO gallade, gardevoir, delibird, jigglypuff, misdreavus and suffit have ever be seen in area zero. Noter concerning thing, the explorators drew a picture of wgat they seen. There were undiscovered species; like for exemple tge gorilla looking like donkey kong. There was nacklstack, pawmo and stuff alredy didcovered tho

 

[R_N]

So there were two things from playing the DLC that I found kind of interesting, both from Briar

I mean there's a lot about Briar that's Kind of Interesting (TM) but specifically I mean

"Look here—these are the pages that were blacked out and made illegible in the published version of the book."

This is about the Terapagos page. This is interesting because the implication is that the page was specifically censored for the book, yeah? It makes me wonder why that happened, because it doesn't read like it was mistakenly done. And I doubt it was necessarily for in-universe marketing considering the rest of the book's contents.
Wonder what else was excluded or censored from the manuscript...

And then, at the end of the DLC

"I'm sorry for suddenly springing this on you, but Carmine, Kieran, and I will need to return to Blueberry Academy a little early."
Again, truly sorry, but there have been some developments concerning the Great Crater. I'm afraid we really must be heading back.

Obviously Something happening with the crater is meant to be eye catching, but in general this is a pretty brow raising reason to return to Blueberry when we have the context of "this is in the Unova region" and "Briar (/ anyone else from the school) hasn't been allowed to go to the crater"
We've kind of suspected the terrarium probably uses tera crystals in some fashion, bu tconsidering Kitakami has pure strain crystals but is (broadly, excluding toxic zombie animals) fine it's like hey what on earth are you doing in that academy where something in Paldea is causing such big issue that yo uhave to return to a Unovan Academy and not return the Paldean students back to their school.

 

[pika pal]

So there were two things from playing the DLC that I found kind of interesting, both from Briar

I mean there's a lot about Briar that's Kind of Interesting (TM) but specifically I mean

This is about the Terapagos page. This is interesting because the implication is that the page was specifically censored for the book, yeah? It makes me wonder why that happened, because it doesn't read like it was mistakenly done. And I doubt it was necessarily for in-universe marketing considering the rest of the book's contents.
Wonder what else was excluded or censored from the manuscript...

And then, at the end of the DLC

Obviously Something happening with the crater is meant to be eye catching, but in general this is a pretty brow raising reason to return to Blueberry when we have the context of "this is in the Unova region" and "Briar (/ anyone else from the school) hasn't been allowed to go to the crater"
We've kind of suspected the terrarium probably uses tera crystals in some fashion, bu tconsidering Kitakami has pure strain crystals but is (broadly, excluding toxic zombie animals) fine it's like hey what on earth are you doing in that academy where something in Paldea is causing such big issue that yo uhave to return to a Unovan Academy and not return the Paldean students back to their school.

I'm also curious what happened with the Crater that necessitates them returning to Blueberry in Unova instead of going back to Paldea (and presumably taking you with them) to investigate... the Crater. I know it's ultimately a gameplay wave for why you can still hang around Kitakami post-plot while sending the DLC2 characters away for set-up, but it's what we're working with.

It gives the sense it's stuff they need to study, maybe compare against stuff in the Unova Terrarium (introducing Crystals to biomes?) but not really dangerous or an emergency (yet, I expect Kieran's going to do something ill-advised with the benign set-up).

 

[QuentinQuonce]

So in FRLG there's an old man in a house in Cerulean City who complains that he's bored and that there's nothing exciting happening.

I saw a video the other day (which annoyingly I can't seem to find again - if anyone else saw it, please do share the link) in which it shows that apparently he changes his dialogue when the player downloads Wonder News. I'm not 100% sure how Wonder News works - apparently it just gives you advance notice of upcoming events?

So he... changes his dialogue to be excited about an upcoming Auroraticket event apparently? Weird. The video showed a couple of his dialogue changes but it's all in Japanese which I don't read (very well) so I wasn't entirely certain what he was saying.

 

[R_N]

So in FRLG there's an old man in a house in Cerulean City who complains that he's bored and that there's nothing exciting happening.

I saw a video the other day (which annoyingly I can't seem to find again - if anyone else saw it, please do share the link) in which it shows that apparently he changes his dialogue when the player downloads Wonder News. I'm not 100% sure how Wonder News works - apparently it just gives you advance notice of upcoming events?

So he... changes his dialogue to be excited about an upcoming Auroraticket event apparently? Weird. The video showed a couple of his dialogue changes but it's all in Japanese which I don't read (very well) so I wasn't entirely certain what he was saying.

I know exactly what you're talking about, saw it too and thought it was really interesting...and you probably couldn't find it again because it wasn'ta dedicated video. It was the last chunk of this one!

From how it's described, Wonder News was basically a news letter telling you about upcoming/ongoing stuff and then you could share that info with friends I guess.
The closest equivalent now would be connecting online and getting the latest info about upcoming events, like how Home & SV tell us about new Battle seasons, cups, raids, etc. or how Switch has a dedicated "news" of sales, new game info, upcoming releases, etc.

Except because this was FRLG it required the adapter and being within like 10 feet of a download point in a real life (japanese-only) location that was also probably giving away the thing. A cute idea but easy to see why it didn't get a lot of recorded use; I presume that there was actually lots of Wonder News for stuff going on the only one we have info on is the Aurora Ticket.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I know exactly what you're talking about, saw it too and thought it was really interesting...and you probably couldn't find it again because it wasn'ta dedicated video. It was the last chunk of this one!

From how it's described, Wonder News was basically a news letter telling you about upcoming/ongoing stuff and then you could share that info with friends I guess.
The closest equivalent now would be connecting online and getting the latest info about upcoming events, like how Home & SV tell us about new Battle seasons, cups, raids, etc. or how Switch has a dedicated "news" of sales, new game info, upcoming releases, etc.

Except because this was FRLG it required the adapter and being within like 10 feet of a download point in a real life (japanese-only) location that was also probably giving away the thing. A cute idea but easy to see why it didn't get a lot of recorded use; I presume that there was actually lots of Wonder News for stuff going on the only one we have info on is the Aurora Ticket.

Ah I knew it was a compilation video but had no idea which one, thanks!

It's a really curious feature, could have been a lot more notable if they'd done more with it... and also perhaps if it wasn't restricted to postgame. There probably would have been a fair amount to advertise in Gen III, that gen did have a lot of giveaways and events.

In hindsight Gen III had a lot of features like this that would have been so much better if only the games had internet access... and even Gen IV and V didn't really make full use of it due to hardware limitations (the original model DS I had couldn't connect to the Internet unless it was a really specific router; even now the only way I can get online is using my phone as a hotspot).

 

[R_N]

Ah I knew it was a compilation video but had no idea which one, thanks!

It's a really curious feature, could have been a lot more notable if they'd done more with it... and also perhaps if it wasn't restricted to postgame. There probably would have been a fair amount to advertise in Gen III, that gen did have a lot of giveaways and events.

It's very possible more was done with it, but it was an era where recording Everything wasn't a big necessity and it was probably only a footnote of something you could do.
not helped by the news in the Wonder News likely being news that was just...advertised...around the Pokemon center anyway....

Kind of sounds like it was just a pet project that got into the game and they decided to support

In hindsight Gen III had a lot of features like this that would have been so much better if only the games had internet access... and even Gen IV and V didn't really make full use of it due to hardware limitations (the original model DS I had couldn't connect to the Internet unless it was a really specific router; even now the only way I can get online is using my phone as a hotspot).

Speaking of, does anyone remember that you could link an email address to DP and it was supposed to email you when a GTS trade finished?
I'm not sure I ever got that to work

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

What's keeping the player from moving Snorlax by just using the Strength HM on it to shove it out of the way?

 

[Ironmage]

What's keeping the player from moving Snorlax by just using the Strength HM on it to shove it out of the way?

Snorlax is constantly using Rest and thus heals off all the damage from Strength.

 

[R_N]

Obviously the random strength boulders weigh less than the 1000 pound snorlax

 

[spookysocialist]

Also, crumple physics. You shove a boulder and the surface of the boulder is completely hard and resistant to damage so the boulder is moved. You try to shove snorlax and just sink into it's fat.

 

[khlaylav]

Go outside after you've done some workouts and shove a sleeping bear. See how well that ends.

 

[BP]

Go outside after you've done some workouts and shove a sleeping bear. See how well that ends.

Bears, while omnivores, have skin much akin to carnivorous predators. Their skin is loose and doesn't hold tightly to the body like ours does. This is due to how often they fight with other predators and their own species. This type of loose skin allows them to receive much more minor injuries from claws and teeth as the skin is ripped or torn open while the muscle and other tissue underneath stays firm.

I doubt that Snorlax has this same type of skin placement as it's a bear that only eats berries and lounges all day. It has no need to hunt or compete with carnivorous Pokemon.

 

[Coronis]

Bears, while omnivores, have skin much akin to carnivorous predators. Their skin is loose and doesn't hold tightly to the body like ours does. This is due to how often they fight with other predators and their own species. This type of loose skin allows them to receive much more minor injuries from claws and teeth as the skin is ripped or torn open while the muscle and other tissue underneath stays firm.

I doubt that Snorlax has this same type of skin placement as it's a bear that only eats berries and lounges all day. It has no need to hunt or compete with carnivorous Pokemon.

I don’t think anyone expected that question to go this way.

 

[pika pal]

Bears, while omnivores, have skin much akin to carnivorous predators. Their skin is loose and doesn't hold tightly to the body like ours does. This is due to how often they fight with other predators and their own species. This type of loose skin allows them to receive much more minor injuries from claws and teeth as the skin is ripped or torn open while the muscle and other tissue underneath stays firm.

I doubt that Snorlax has this same type of skin placement as it's a bear that only eats berries and lounges all day. It has no need to hunt or compete with carnivorous Pokemon.

I kind of assumed Snorlax to be a bit like Weddell Seals, where despite not being the usual image of a huge carnivorous predator, they are considered Apex Predators because their biology and build leaves them not being hunted by native species (they're too big and fat to be worth the energy hunting them takes for anything that could challenge them). Snorlax's bulky build is primarily in its HP, which I find tends to be coded to soft or blubbery Pokemon vs high Defenses entailing a hard/armored type of build. Snorlax is known steal food from settlements so I would assume it also robs other Pokemon if hungry, in which case it probably has to fight or endure some assault. I imagine it like a Macro version of Bears just kind of ignoring Bee stings due to their coat when raiding a nest to eat Larvae (more nutrient rich for them than the honey Pop Culture plays up). In fact Gamefreak, give Snorlax Fur Coat/Fluffy.

Somewhat related: What does Strength as a move actually entail thematically? For 6 Generations it was only learnable by TM, and in Gen 8 it was put in the natural movepools of some Pokemon you'd associate brute force with like Mudsdale, Bewear, and Copperajah.

The complication here is that in Gen 7 it was only naturally learned by Machamp, and the description across many games including Gen 8 describes it as a Punch, when 2/5 natural learning lines don't have arms (and Pinsir seems more like it'd fight with its head than punching things). Also, while the "push, stop, push, stop" animation makes sense with this, it's funny to imagine the Boulders being punched into place Chris Redfield style.

 

[khlaylav]

Bears, while omnivores, have skin much akin to carnivorous predators. Their skin is loose and doesn't hold tightly to the body like ours does. This is due to how often they fight with other predators and their own species. This type of loose skin allows them to receive much more minor injuries from claws and teeth as the skin is ripped or torn open while the muscle and other tissue underneath stays firm.

I doubt that Snorlax has this same type of skin placement as it's a bear that only eats berries and lounges all day. It has no need to hunt or compete with carnivorous Pokemon.

I appreciate the science breakdown (not sarcasm! It was cool!) but I mean more that if you try to push a bear, it's gonna maul you lmao

 

[Karxrida]

Somewhat related: What does Strength as a move actually entail thematically? For 6 Generations it was only learnable by TM, and in Gen 8 it was put in the natural movepools of some Pokemon you'd associate brute force with like Mudsdale, Bewear, and Copperajah.

The complication here is that in Gen 7 it was only naturally learned by Machamp, and the description across many games including Gen 8 describes it as a Punch, when 2/5 natural learning lines don't have arms (and Pinsir seems more like it'd fight with its head than punching things). Also, while the "push, stop, push, stop" animation makes sense with this, it's funny to imagine the Boulders being punched into place Chris Redfield style.

I guess it's just supposed to be a brute strength push? Hence the name. It's Normal-type instead of Fighting because there's no finesse or technique to it. Just moving rocks, any normie that lifts enough can do that.

The punch thing is probably some weird translation snafu, especially considering the move isn't boosted by Iron Fist.

 

[R_N]

I guess it's just supposed to be a brute strength push? Hence the name. It's Normal-type instead of Fighting because there's no finesse or technique to it. Just moving rocks, any normie that lifts enough can do that.

The punch thing is probably some weird translation snafu, especially considering the move isn't boosted by Iron Fist.

Now I'm curious so let's see...the Japanese descriptions would be these I think

第二世代・ルビー・サファイア・エメラルド
ぜんしんに すごいちからを ためて てきを こうげき
ファイアレッド・リーフグリーン
こんしんの ちからで あいてを なぐりつけて こうげきをする。 おもい いわを おすことも できる。
第四世代
こんしんの ちからで あいてを なぐりつけて こうげきする。おもい いわを おすことも できる。
第五世代・第六世代
こんしんの ちからで あいてを なぐりつけて こうげきする。おもたい いわを おすことも できる。
(漢字) こん身の 力で 相手を なぐりつけて 攻撃する。重たい 岩を 押すことも できる。
第七世代・ソード・シールド・第九世代
こんしんの ちからで あいてを なぐりつけて こうげきする。
(漢字) こん身の 力で 相手を なぐりつけて 攻撃する。
ブリリアントダイヤモンド・シャイニングパール
こんしんの ちからで あいてを なぐりつけて こうげきする。ポケッチの ひでんわざの ひとつ。
(漢字) こん身の 力で 相手を なぐりつけて 攻撃する。ポケッチの 秘伝技の 一つ。

And DeepL translation puts them as

Second Generation, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald
Build up tremendous power to attack with your whole body!
Fire Red, Leaf Green
This creature strikes by knocking down enemies with its powerful kinetic energy. Can also throw a heavy bomb.
Generation IV
Strikes by striking with the power of his koshin. Can also throw a heavy bomb.
Generation V, Generation VI
Strikes by knocking down enemies with its supernatural powers. It can also throw a heavy bomb.
(Kanji) This creature attacks by knocking opponents down with its supernatural power. It can also push heavy rocks.
Generation VII, Sword, Shield, Generation IX
Attacks by using its supernatural power to knock opponents down.
(Kanji) It attacks by using its supernatural power to knock down its opponent.
Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl
(Kanji) Strike by bludgeoning your opponent with your physique's power. This is one of Pokétch's secret moves.
(Kanji) Strikes by knocking the opponent down with its supernatural power. One of Pokétch's secret moves.

This is still machine translation so obviously it can be prone to errors ("can also throw a heavy bomb" lmao), but yeah doesn't really mention punches.

So looking at the english translations again

StadStad2	A very powerful Normal-type attack. Also used for moving obstacles like boulders.
GSC	A powerful physical attack.
RSE	Builds enormous power, then slams the foe.
FRLG	The foe is slugged at maximum power. Can also be used to move boulders.
Colo.XD	Builds enormous power, then slams the target.
DPPtHGSS	The foe is slugged with a punch thrown at maximum power. It can also be used to move boulders.
PBR	The foe is hit with a punch thrown at maximum power.
BWB2W2	The target is slugged with a punch thrown at maximum power. This move can also be used to move boulders.
XYORAS	The target is slugged with a punch thrown at maximum power. This can also be used to move heavy boulders.
SMUSUMPE SwShLA SV	The target is slugged with a punch thrown at maximum power.
BDSP	The target is slugged with a punch thrown at maximum power. It’s also one of the Pokétch’s hidden moves.

I think maybe what happened here (assuming the machine translation is right) is back in FRLG they went with "Slugged at maximum power" as a way to retain the flavor of FRLG's description while still retaining the character limit.
Then in gen 4, they decided to add more spice by specifying how it was slugged, which could conjure images of a punch.
Then they just kept that forever.

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

Do Voltorb's poles reverse upon evolution to Electrode? Both forms of Voltorb switch to either a more "positive" or "negative" personality upon evolving and their colors also flip and I feel like this would be a funny reason for both