exploringpkmnscience

[exploringpkmnscience]

Loved the food web you made for route 1,can you please do more?

Be happy to! i may be a while, though. life’s busy, yknow?-prof wurmplue

[exploringpkmnscience]

Legendary Analysis: Johto

time for part two! :D We’re doing Johto this time around, so hang on for some HEAVY lore.

Okay, so the legends of Johto are really involved with each other, to say the least, so it’ll be easiest if I explain the legend behind Ho-oh and the legendary beasts.

So, it’s said Lugia and Ho-Oh used to perch on two towers in Ecruteak City: Brass Tower and Bell Tower. (Well, Ho-Oh still perches at Bell Tower, but.) 150 years before the story of Gold and Silver, Brass Tower mysteriously burnt down in a fire -- caused by a sudden lightning bolt and put out by a sudden downpour. It’s said three Pokémon died in the fire, and after it was put out, Ho-Oh revived them, turning them into the Legendary Beasts. 

I’d say this “reviving power” of Ho-Oh actually exists, first of all (I’ll explain why a little later), so let’s get that out of the way and take the story at face value. My theory is the powers of the Legendary Beasts come from the three elements involved in the fire: the lightning that started it, the fire itself, and the downpour that ended it. You always hear their names in that order, too, so wouldn’t it make sense? 

Now for Ho-Oh. First of all, getting that weird “reviving power” from the legends out of the way: the Sacred Ash usually found held by Ho-Oh in-game. This is just ash, and still, it can fully restore every Pokémon in your party as long as at least one is fainted. That’s just the ash from Ho-Oh doing their fiery Pokémon thing. Ho-Oh themself has to have some pretty fantastic healing power. (And I’d be willing to bet they used the energy from those three events to create the Legendary Beasts, too, but I digress.)

How about Ho-Oh’s counterpart, Lugia? Well, Lugia’s main power is if my siblings and I did the fusion dance or something. They can control the weather completely, though their main domain is storms, and I guess that makes them kind of like our mom? They’re the only one who can keep us from fighting, honestly. >3> That’s the only time they come out, though, since if they’re not careful, they can cause some serious damage by just flying. So, that’s really about it. 

Finally, we’ll talk about Celebi. Celebi’s the guardian of the Ilex Forest, and apparently has some pretty incredible plant powers, in addition to its famous time-travel. And, I hate to say it, but.... I have no idea. According to it’s Ruby/Sapphire Pokédex entry (as well as in the remakes), it “came from the future”, so that might clue us in, but we might just have to wait to see... 

[exploringpkmnscience]

Legendary Analysis

Wow, it's been a while, huh? //blows dust off blog

anyway, we got an ask last summer that said:

Would you guys consider doing an analysis of how legendary pokemon became legendary? Or how some of their exclusive powers (celebi's time travel, expecially) work? Or on how poekmon who are bred with egg moves of from parents of different genders can vary phisically/how egg moves effect a pokemon with them? How this helps a little to get you out of the slump! This blog is fun and I hope it keeps goin' nwn -Thena

Those are all great ideas, and I was hoping to address the second question today! How a Legendary's special powers work....

Well, being an Articuno myself, I should be a good authority on this, right? Should be fun! I’ll go through the Legendaries in Pokédex order for ya. Not all today, though, there are quite a lot of us, eheh. I’ll go through Kanto right now, and make this a series!

Articuno

Starting with myself, because I’m pretty cool (hehehe get it?): according to you humans, when I flap my wings, it chills the air around me, sometimes making it snow. Seems like pretty standard fare for an icy bird. Also, apparently, my wings look like they’re made of ice! I don’t want to reveal TOO much about my nature, but I promise my wings aren’t made of ice. I am a warm-blooded bird, after all. I’d say my Soulsilver Pokédex entry is the closest:

One of the legendary bird Pokémon, it chills moisture in the atmosphere to create snow while flying.

As can be seen in the anime, I don’t make snow ALL the time when I’m flying. That is something I control. So I guess it’s similar to me using an Ice-type move like Ice Beam or Blizzard, just on a much calmer scale. 

Zapdos

Zapdos is said to create thunderstorms when they flap their wings, apparently. Again, I’m gonna say that’s a human exaggeration. I don’t hang out with my siblings much -- that tends to end in disaster, and Lugia gets mad at us -- but I’m pretty sure they control thunderstorms in much the same way I control snow. I’d say their wings are kinda like a Pikachu’s cheeks, and their feathers are charged with electricity! Betcha that’s what’s up with that weird feather-do.

Moltres

Moltres is the odd one out of the three of us, poor guy. Zapdos and I are both associated with extreme, but generally not too terrible weather, but what does Moltres get? Fire. I mean, I guess wildfires are a thing, but that’s a lot worse than your average thunderstorm.  Now, their powers are similar to the phoenix of lore. It’s said that Moltres heals themself by dipping in an active volcano, and when they fly, embers drop from their wings. Now, I’ll argue with that one. It’s not Moltres’ wings that are on fire, it’s their tail. I think the embers come from their tail! 

Final verdict on us birds, I think we’re all three fairly simple: our powers are  similar to your average Pokémon moves, but we have more control than just using Ice Beam, Thunder, or Flamethrower. 

Mew

On to Mew. I’m not going to get into the Mew vs. Arceus argument, really. They’d both get mad at me! Anyway, according to humans, they have the DNA of every Pokémon out there, and can therefore learn any move. They can also turn visible and invisible at will, and don’t appear to anyone they don’t want to. They might be in the same room as you right now! 

Anyway, I’d say Mew’s power comes from being somewhat similar to Ditto in that they have a somewhat unstable genetic code. This is just a theory, of course, but Mew’s the only Pokémon besides Ditto so far that is known to learn Transform, and it also explains the invisible thing. Obviously, Mew has more control over their powers than a Ditto, but I think it’s the same basic idea.

Mewtwo

From what I understand, Mewtwo is one of the only human-made Pokémon, besides the Porygon family and Genesect. Their DNA is based on Mew’s. Obviously I don’t know everything about the experiments done to create Mewtwo, and I don’t really want to approach them about it because they’ll probably get mad at me, but my theory is that they come from scientists trying to “stabilize” Mew’s DNA.This would explain their lack of Transform, and Mew’s ability to learn any move. I’d say the scientists used Psychic DNA to do that, which is where Mewtwo’s strong Psychic abilities come from. 

Basically, I think their deal is the same as mine: the powers of a type heightened to a level that makes you humans see the power holder as equivalent to a god. 

I get the feeling this is going to be the result for a lot of these, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see...

-- Black Belt Frosticuno

[exploringpkmnscience]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BLOG!

Hey, Frosticuno here! I am SO SO SORRY about not updating, friend. The basic explanation is that school started and we forgot about the blog. That’s on us.

Thanks for the message! We appreciate your support, and I’ll work on getting something new out as soon as I can!

--Frosticuno

[exploringpkmnscience]

DJ Wurmplue signing on with Species Differentiations

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to another installment of Species Differentiations. My, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it! I’m your host, DJ Wurmplue, and today we will be looking at the Ralts family. I realize this isn’t my expertise, but my fellow scientist is not available at the moment, so I’ll be tackling this subject for now!

so, if you’ll join me under the cut, let’s get started!

First, let’s take a look at the beginner of this family, Ralts!

(R/S/E/FR/LG)

(X/Y/OR/AS)

As we can see, in the past there was very little difference between a Hoenn Ralts and a Kanto Ralts. However, we currently see a that the Hoenn Ralts has a much whiter body than it once did, and perhaps a slightly duller cap. Whether or not Kanto Ralts have retained their bluish body is still unknown, but i do wonder what could have caused such a notable change? Perhaps its similarity to the Kalos Ralts has something to do with it.

(D/P)

(PT/HG/SS)

There are very subtle differences in the levels of blue between the Sinnoh and Johto Ralts. However, it seems that introducing the Johto variety to Sinnoh has resulted in the whiter blue spreading around. Perhaps this is what happens to the Hoenn Ralts?

(B/W/B2/W2)

Finally, the Unova Ralts appears to be an even lighter blue than the Johto, appearing nearly grey at its shadows. Its cap is also a noticable more vibrant green than any other. Were it a grass type, this would suggest the Unova variety to be the healthiest, but since it’s a Psychic/Fairy, we can only guess.

While i cannot offer Sprites, it should also be noted that the Shiny variety gets significantly more pink between the old and new Hoenn varieties, while all others appear to have the same balance of light pink.

Now let us move on to Kirlia!

(R/S/E/FR/LG)

(D/P)

(PT/HG/SS)

(B/W/B2/W2)

(X/Y/OR/AS)

Once again we see a drastic change over time for the Hoenn Kirlia, though the Unova Kirlia could much better explain this, as it’s the most white of the other regions. Other than this, however, not much to say that hasn’t already been told. The same can be said for their Shiny variants.

Perhaps Gardevoir will be more interesting?

evidently not. Gardevoir actually changes the LEAST over the regions! the most notable outlier in colors is the Kalos and current Hoenn; the only notable difference between the others would be Height. perhaps the shiny will..?

no, no, no! they’re even LESS variant! the only thing to notice is that the blue becomes more cyan to aqua! come on, there has to be SOMETHING worth talking about in this line!!

wait...

what’s this?

yes, yes, this is perfect!

For once, the Hoenn variety didn’t actually change all the much, aside from its body becoming whiter. While this is a very nice development, the true gem is the coloring in the Hoenn and Kalos��s Mega Gardevoir’s caps. It seems as though they’ve saved their cyan progression for the mega evolutionary difference! could this be connected to the mega stone itself? or could is be suggesting the more cyan coloring to be recessive? and what of that black! No Ralts, Kirlia, or Gardevoir of any variety has ever shown Black on its body, much less so much of it! Truly exciting.

With that lovely addition, i’m excited to see what lies with their cousins the Gallade!

...

MOTHER F-

[exploringpkmnscience]

pokemon has so many cool designs that it’s a real shame they’re never expanded on! i wish we had a chance to see more variation within individual species

[exploringpkmnscience]

i got a ton of requests for more starter pokemon after my ivysaur subspecies post, so i came up with these designs! check the captions for the animals they’re based on.

my inbox is still open to suggestions for other subspecies, but if there’s a pokemon you really want to see, you can ask me about commissions!

[exploringpkmnscience]

DJ Wurmplue with some quick biology

Hello everyone! so sorry for the lack of updating lately, we've all been a bit busy here. But not too busy for science!

Today, we will be discussing the importance of training your baby Bidoof and Rattata to gnaw its teeth to a reasonable size on a regular basis. So breeders, pay close attention!

First, let's see what we already know about their teeth whittling, shall we?

Rattata:

Stadium Pokedex: Scurries around quickly, searching for hard objects to gnaw. It appears to be jittery and unable to remain still. FireRed and Y Version Pokedex: Its fangs are long and very sharp. They grow continuously, so it gnaws on hard things to whittle them down.

Black2 and White2 Pokedex: It searches for food all day. It gnaws on hard objects to wear down its fangs, which grow constantly during its lifetime.

Raticate:

Gold and HeartGold Version and Stadium2 Pokedex: Gnaws on anything with its tough fangs. It can even topple concrete buildings by gnawing on them.

Silver Version Pokedex: Its whiskers help it to maintain balance. Its fangs never stop growing, so it gnaws to pare them down.

Ruby Sapphire and Emerald Version Pokedex: Raticate's sturdy fangs grow steadily. To keep them ground down, it gnaws on rocks and logs. It may even chew on the walls of houses.

Diamond Pearl Platinum Black White and X version Pokedex: It whittles its constantly growing fangs by gnawing on hard things. It can chew apart cinder walls.

Black2 and White2 Version Pokedex: With its long fangs, this surprisingly violent Pokémon can gnaw away even thick concrete with ease.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire version Pokedex: Raticate’s sturdy fangs grow steadily. To keep them ground down, it gnaws on rocks and logs. It may even chew on the walls of houses.

Bidoof:

Ash's Pokedex: Bidoof, the Plump Mouse Pokémon. It gnaws on trees and rocks with its strong front teeth and lives in nests near the water.

Pearl and Y Version Pokedex: It constantly gnaws on logs and rocks to whittle down its front teeth. It nests alongside water.

Platinum B W B2 and W2 Version Pokedex: A comparison revealed that Bidoof's front teeth grow at the same rate as Rattata's.

Heartgold and Soulsilver Version Pokdex: It lives in groups by the water. It chews up boulders and trees around its nest with its incisors.

Bibarel:

Heartgold Soulsilver and X Pokedex: It busily makes its nest with stacks of branches and roots it has cut up with its sharp incisors.

As you can see, these Fangs are very important to their survival and general character. So Naturally, One would want them to start gnawing form an early age. But why, you might ask?

Well, i'm no bidoof, so i couldn't tell you for sure, but i believe that the youngsters grow a certain discomfort when they forget to gnaw. Perhaps an itch or a soreness? But of course, that still doesn't answer WHY. Why do they need to chew on everything in sight?

The answer lies in Raticate. Their fangs grow at a constant rate and need to be chewed down by incredibly hard things. Things that no creature in their right mind would chew on unless they knew it was a requirement. but for what?

well, Look at Raticate's shape.

I believe that if they were to allow those fangs to grow too long, the teeth would eventually grow too heavy for their jaws to move, and then they may grow in a pattern that would quite literally rip their jaw apart little bit by little bit. Raticate already can't close its mouth; imagine not being able to move its jaw at all because it's being pushed open past the usual limit at a constant but agonizingly slow speed.

Now, obviously the other three aren't in quite as much danger. their teeth grow in a slightly different pattern, after all. But that doesn't stop the teeth from getting too heavy to lift, or even too long to open your mouth without it being blocked. If they didn't whittle them down all the time, those teeth could very well mean their death!

So be considerate to your little rodent pals, and give them a nice log or cinderblock to chew on this christmas. they'll thank you for it!

[exploringpkmnscience]

DJ Wurmplue signing on with Food Webs

hello, everyone! we've been awfully busy this week, so here's a quick little food web. pretty self explanatory. enjoy!

-DJ Wurmplue

[exploringpkmnscience]

Anon Asked: "What if Misty never fished Ash out of that river?"

I’m assuming this is one of the science questions I asked for. The answer is simple: PokeShippers would stop bothering me… but would every other AshShipper stop bothering me too? As an Eagle Scout who proudly managed to earn both his Swimming merit badge and his Lifesaving merit badge, I am more than aware of the dangers of jumping into something like this

but our ever-10-year-old protagonist did that in episode 1! Yikes! How did he ever survive?! In short, he was lucky… Like… really lucky… Like… this is proof enough he’s a prophetic hero lucky. Let me explain.

The first miracle our hero encounters is that he somehow survived this jump, remained conscious, and, for the most part, escaped unscathed. Unlikely? Sure. But impossible? No. The next issue we deal with is this.

It is fairly common for waterfalls to lead into rapids, and many of those things will carry an emerged ten-year-old with ease, especially if he is too busy holding an electric mouse to use his arms. Ash would have been in serious trouble here if he didn’t reorient himself, but he did…

And then a Gyarados scared the living crap out of him and made him swim away. This is Problem #3, and the one that surely should have spelt death for the future Pokemon Master. Gyarados isn’t the main issue here, but Ash’s swimming is. Take a good look at how he swims.

You see that? Ash is swimming with his side to the rapids, which any experienced swimmer can tell you is very dangerous, especially if you are submerged in the water and only using your legs, but I’ll get back to that in a minute. The scene soon after cuts to Misty fishing on a nearby shore, and we see two more important factors.

1.) Bubbles spring up from a previously still water, indicating that Ash officially could not hold his breath any longer and probably sucked in a nice morning drink…

And 2.) Misty’s lure goes down (obviously getting caught on Ash) only to be immediately drug forward, proving to us that the rapids still have our helpless protagonist. So, I know what you’re thinking. “Why isn’t Ash swimming up for air? We saw he had control of his swim pattern earlier. Why is he taking in a lung full of water, getting caught on fishing lines, and swaying with the current instead of peaking his head out for a bit?” The answer, my friend, is something called ‘centripetal force’. You see, going back to our earlier picture of Ash’s motion vs. the current’s, remember how I said it was dangerous to swim with your side to the rapids like that, especially without using your full strength (ergo arms and legs)? The reason is, it puts you at risk of being flipped over like this

And once that happens, Ash is in BIG trouble, because physics says, Ash moving like that means centrifugal force- the tendency of an object following a curved path to fly outwards, away from the center of the curve due to inertia. And in this scenario, centrifugal force means centripetal force- a force that counteracts centrifugal force and prevents the object from flying out. In other words, if those rapids managed to tip him over (and they likely did, due to his poor swimming technique), they would have kept him and Pikachu moving forward in a constant spinning motion, unable to readjust their position or come up for air. Heck, you can even see some evidence of it in the motion of Misty’s lure!

Clearly, Ash and Pikachu were doomed to drown from this point on until what can only be described as divine intervention kicked in. They just happened to get snagged on a fishing line and were pulled in by Misty’s ridiculous upper arm strength at the exact moment Ash started to lose his breath. You can even see him coughing afterwards as his body rejects the water he took in a few seconds earlier.

Given all of the above, I would say that Ash could not get out of the water from the position he was in, and he had already begun the drowning process when Misty’s lure just happened to snag onto him. Were he in the water for even a few more seconds, he probably would have died, and Pikachu would have passed away in its injured state as well. Delia would have received the news that somebody found her son’s body anywhere between a few hours to a few weeks later, Professor Oak would have been arrested for giving a novice trainer a disobedient Pokemon that eventually led to both their deaths, and the world would have ended a few months afterwards when Mewtwo destroyed all life on the planet because no one was there to show him the error of his ways. …But on the bright side, no one would have gotten seizures from that Porygon episode! That’s something, right?

[exploringpkmnscience]

DJ Wurmplue signing on with Flaws of Breeding

Good afternoon, everyone. Today we'll be taking a break from Evolutionary Studies to take a look at the negative aspects of Breeding. I had mentioned earlier that i'm not always a fan of how breeders go about their business.

(personally, i think it’s disgusting that breeders allow their paras to become infected. we should be breeding healthy paras with a resistance to this horrible mushroom!)

So, i've decided to take some time to explain what all about breeding is bad. please don't be mistaken; i'm grateful for breeders! thanks to them, certain Pokemon species are still around, and will be for a long long time! However, i feel it's only appropriate to point out some of the harmful issues with some popular breeding tactics.

so, if you'll join me under the cut, let's get started!

First, let's start with a common form of breeding; breeding for a specific attribute, or sometimes several. this is a fairly simple process for most, if not time consuming. Simply breeding your Pokemon over and over again until you hatch one with the trait or traits you want. This is often the method used for getting Pokemon with good IVs, as well as a common method to finding a shiny.

there are MULTIPLE problems with this.

let's start with the Pokemon you're breeding. on average, most Pokemon lay a litter of one, and don't typically mate until provided the right opportunity. a suitable partner, proper breeding grounds, privacy, etc. This ensures that the species survives, but they are not exhausted. This is destroyed, however, with the selective breeding done by trainers. The two Pokemon, even if they don't get along, are naturally drawn to breeding by the conditions provided; it's how their species continues, after all. Even if a Pokemon is completely different from its partner, if they're in the same egg group, an egg is likely to be produced. With the likelihood of getting the traits you want, the Pokemon is forced by instinct and inescapable conditions to have a litter far larger than was ever intended, usually in the span of a few days. Even the dead(ghost types) aren't safe from this.

Not to mention that when it comes to IV breeding, it's far too common that Pokemon are provided their own family to breed with. While incest doesn't necessarily have a negative effect on the hatchlings produced, it's highly likely that this effects the breeding pair's mental health. think about it; would YOU want to breed with your newborn grandson? i don't think so.

and what about the hatchlings that aren't "successful"? Well, thankfully, the Kalos region is smart enough to have Wonder Trade, which means that you can simply send out all those unwanted babies and they will eventually(hopefully) find a good home, usually with someone who doesn't care about the IVs so much as the species itself.

however, in other regions, it's usual to release them into the wild as direct trading takes too much time. This can DESTROY ecosystems. Some Pokemon were never meant to be in the wild in the first place, much less in copious amounts. others are released in areas too far away from their natural habitats to make it to them. When you introduce a hundred litters of Charmander into a forest, the grass Pokemon are very displeased. They may move from that area, or die out from being hunted/having their own food sources lessened.

All in all, overbreeding simply for your own desires is a terrible thing.

Now, let's look at the other big issue with breeding; Harm to the Species.

We all know about egg moves, right? A mama Torterra breeds with a papa Venusaur and the baby Turtwig is born knowing Double-Edge. this is a neat little trick for making your pokemon super strong from the start, without having to wait for them to level.

the problem? they only know how to use it by instinct. A baby pokemon is not ready to know a move with a power of 120 when the strongest attack it naturally has is at a power of 50 or lower. They could very easily mess up, accidentally hurt themselves, or not understand how to control their move. this is dangerous to both the pokemon and those around it. Not to mention that using all that power when they barely know how to battle in the first place is going to wear them out very quickly and add stress, making them susceptible to illness.

Let's make an example out of Pichu. Two parents breed, and the mama holds a light ball, thus producing a Pichu who knows Volt Tackle by instinct. Volt Tackle is not learned, it is merely known from birth, thus suggesting that the light ball probably did something to the egg or baby. Based on the move, i'd guess that the light ball simply helps it to store energy far better. now, Volt Tackle is an attack with a power of 120, 100% accuracy, and gives a recoil equal to 1/3rd the damage done to the opponent. It's the sort of move that a grown pikachu or raichu could handle with ease. but a newly hatched level 1 Pichu? the poor baby is learning from a very early age that battling = pain, even if it's never hit by the opponent. This could easily scare it into never wanting to battle, or at the very least give it a slightly twisted view on the matter. My suggestion is to hold off from using Volt Tackle until it's gotten more used to battling. (or contests/super contests, should that be the case.)

Finally, the original thought on this; purposely breeding an unhealthy Pokemon. This is just plain sick, not way around it. By allowing a Pokemon to contract a harmful infection(Paras being spored, for example), you are letting your Pokemon suffer. I want to see a strong paras with no mushrooms on its back ready to evolve into what it's MEANT to evolve into. Parasect may be strong, but it's just a zombie. and you let it become that the moment you let the spores infect that poor hatchling. and while there are other pokemon who's evolution can actually be harmful(Accelgor looses it's protective shell and risks drying out), it is truly horrible to doom a pokemon from the very start.

and while we're on the subject of harmful breeding... if the marowak is still alive, where does the cubone get it's skull...?

oh well, that's a discussion for another day. make sure to follow, discuss, and ask about this topic and more. see you next time!

-DJ Wurmplue

[exploringpkmnscience]

Is it possible for Team Rocket to actually survive a blast off?

-Asked By fullgrizzly94- -Pokemon Science- 

…Ok. Fine. You know I can’t resist these things.

Maybe I should change my analysis, because technically the answer is “Yes”. It is completely possible for Team Rocket to survive the frequent trips Ash gives them into the troposphere. Moreover, it is undeniably possible for them to survive A blast off. The issue comes in when you consider exactly how often Team Rocket blasts off and the considerable lack of injuries they suffer. 

[What doesn’t kill you… should probably succeed after a few dozen tries.]

Now, I’m not entirely sure how high Team Rocket is getting blasted off every day, but fortunately for us, that doesn’t really matter. Doing some simple research shows that people have survived much higher falls than Pikachu could ever hope to provide for Team Rocket! In fact, I was able to find records of exactly 44 people surviving falls from airplanes at a minimum of 31,000 feet (9,656 meters)! That’s 6 miles in the air! And the key here is that even if Ash’s team was somehow launching Team Rocket even higher with every blast off, a free falling human being will reach terminal velocity after only falling from about 1,500 feet (457 meters). For those unfamiliar with the jargon, terminal velocity refers to the point in a fall in which the force of gravity acting on an object is equalled out by the air resistance that has built up as the object gained momentum. In other words, once a falling object (or trio of Pokemon villains) has fallen for 1,500 feet and built up a speed of roughly 120 mph (53.6 m/s), it stops accelerating. Therefore, someone falling from 35,000 feet will not hit the ground with any more force than someone falling from  31,000 feet, 21,000 feet, or 1,500 feet!

[Still keep in mind that Team Rocket is surviving crashes that did this to a Ford Focus.] [Source: 1]

So, we’ve established that a blast off is survivable without the tried and true Wile E. Coyote logic… but it’s still pretty unlikely. And before someone suggests that Team Rocket should aim for the water, you should know that that option isn’t always the best. Hitting the water from a high enough drop is basically the same as hitting concrete. As a way of simplifying the physics involved here, the more energy that’s involved in a collision, the less important the binding energy (the energy required to pull a thing apart) is. When someone falls into a body of water, it takes a finite amount of time for the water molecules to get out of the way as the person’s body displaces it. If someone is falling fast enough (ergo, from a great enough height), the water molecules will not displace in time for the falling body to feel the gentle splashing force we do when entering the water. Rather it will feel the same as hitting a solid, if not worse due to the fact that water has a very low compressibility at such speeds. Coupling all of that with the risk of passing out and drowning, it might be more efficient for our trio to aim for a tree, but even in that case, the chances of survival all depend on how far Team Rocket is falling from. If they somehow hit that 1,500 feet mark, then cutting things short by a few feet isn’t going to do much. However, in any other situation, I would recommend aiming for a California redwood (approx 370 ft/112.78 m) or a Norfolk Island Pine (approx. 200 ft/61 m with leaves that basically look like they were designed to save you). Those are probably their best bets, barring some crazy plants only native to the Pokemon world that might be saving them.

[On second thought, maybe hitting the ground isn’t such a dumb plan.]

But you get the basic idea. The chances of Team Rocket surviving one of these falls is low as it is. The chances of them surviving several hundred? You’d have better luck of Fish completing his runthrough of Pokemon Red. I do have an alternate theory, though! There is always the possibility that Team Rocket isn’t actually crashing after Ash and friends blast them off! Think about it. We only actually see them hit the ground a handful of times, and in the 'Training Daze' episode of 'Pokemon Chronicles' the audience was actually given a peek into Team Rocket’s routine after blast off. During the opening scene, Meowth comments that their landing is going to hurt, and Jessie orders James to activate a portable floatation device that he has apparently been carrying in his pocket. Granted, James accidentally pulls out his bottlecap collection instead, but this still suggests that Team Rocket had a portable device prepared to save them from long falls into the water!

[And James literally screws it up by carrying garbage around in his pocket. Way to go James. We knew we could count on you.]

The point is that if Team Rocket has floatation devices that can fit in their pockets prepared, I don’t see why they can’t also have parachutes or cushions or balloons of some sort to help them survive the impacts they make every episode. But, hey, even if they don’t, people have survived worse, I suppose.

[exploringpkmnscience]

So one interesting theory I've heard around is the theory of the Mother/Earthbound series taking place in the same universe as the Pokémon universe. Being a huge fan of the Mother series, this is amazingly interesting to me. There are a BUNCH of elements to this, and everyone has their own take on it, so I'll be analyzing all of it under the cut! (Warning for a degree of spoilers for the entire Mother series.)

The first element to this is a video done by Youtube channel SomeOrdinaryGamers. For those who can't watch the video, I'll do my best to get the idea down.

For those of you who don't know, the plot of Mother, the first game in the series, is about a boy named Ninten going off to save the world from an alien called Giegue trying to destroy the Earth. I'll save you the details of the plotline, because what matters to us is what he looks like:

Doesn't that look familiar? Kinda like Mewtwo, huh? Now, let's think about the origin story of Mewtwo.

"[...]an expedition team comprised of Team Rocket scientists traveled to the area to search for a fossil of Mew, and succeeded in finding an eyelash belonging to it. Giovanni hired Dr. Fuji to clone Mew for him and create the most powerful Pokémon in existence." - Bulbapedia

Sure, there may have been evidence of Mew once living in this area,  but how do you know that eyelash was really Mew's? We know from Earthbound that Giegue deteriorated almost completely into Giygas (who is honestly terrifying so i won't post a picture), but there could certainly be some DNA left over from Giegue. Mewtwo is a Psychic-type Pokémon. The plotline of Mother involves humans stealing the psychic powers of Giegue's race. Perhaps Mewtwo doesn't come from Mew, but actually comes from Giegue. They are a lot more different physically than any of the other clones and their originals, after all.

If you still aren't sold, just look at these two next to each other.

Now, another theory involving the two universes that I find quite interesting:

The main antagonist in Mother 3 is a character named Porky. In the game, Porky creates chimeras, mixtures of animals that are common enemies in the game. For example, there's Dogfish and Horsantula:

  But the most notorious of the chimeras, even making an appearance in the Brawl stage of New Pork City, is The Ultimate Chimera:

As anyone who has encountered him will tell you, this guy is pure evil. (just ask Delteon. She beat Mother 3.) But more importantly. He doesn't really look much like any particular animal anymore. TUC could very well be a Pokémon. What if Mew evolved from what was left of Giygas after the end of Earthbound, and the chimeras evolved into Pokémon? This one is more of an idea, but.

DJ Wurmplue just pointed out there may be a connection between Paras and the (evil) Ramblin' Mushrooms. I mean, there's the Mushroomized effect in-game and all. Are Paras mushroomized? 

Another idea she had: 

there's also the fact that it's been proven in multiple pokemon mediums that Psychics are a thing, have been for a while, and aren't out of place in the slightest. it's completely possible that the PK moves the kids use are possible with trainers such as Sabrina, and vice versa for their abilites.

Finally, moving on to the world where these are just video games, some of the team who worked on Mother later moved on to help with Pokémon. It also might be worth mentioning that there are a LOT of songs in the Mother series and various Pokémon games that sound similar. I'll be compiling a list and adding that onto this post later. 

That's all I've got for now, but if I come up with anything else on this, I'll letcha know! Frosticuno, signing out!

[exploringpkmnscience]

That bulbasaur illistration by Ken Sugimori is from firered/leafegreen, fyi. I have the guide and that picture is on the back!

If I'm not mistaken, the Ken Sugimori art carries through the generations. If you look at bulbapedia's page, the Ken Sugimori art is right up there at the top. I don't think they actually have a specific generation they refer to.Thank you for writing in anyway! Always nice to hear from our fellow pokemon enthusiasts.~Secretary shiny Delteon

[exploringpkmnscience]

Would you guys consider doing an analysis of how legendary pokemon became legendary? Or how some of their exclusive powers (celebi's time travel, expecially) work? Or on how poekmon who are bred with egg moves of from parents of different genders can vary phisically/how egg moves effect a pokemon with them? How this helps a little to get you out of the slump! This blog is fun and I hope it keeps goin' nwn -Thena

Thena, you have amazing ideas. DJ Wurmplue had to go off to some other region to do a little field work on her next evo. studies, so I'll see if Frosticuno and I can whip something up for you!~Secretary shiny Delteon

[exploringpkmnscience]

Anyone have anything they want to hear about? we're in a bit of a stump at the moment.

-DJ wurmplue

[exploringpkmnscience]

A short guide to morphological differences in chandelure. Naturally there are variations in the litwick and lampent populations as well ;D