#ponyta eiffel tower

[pkdex-log]

Pokemon Games Took Place In The Real World For A Bit

So it has been said before that when pitching Pokemon Game Freak wanted to put the Pokemon in a fictional world, while Satoshi Tajiri insisted on it being in the real world. Satoshi Tajiri would get his way and the Pokemon games would end up taking place in the real world. This is actually why the Pokemon games referenced the real world in various ways.

Like how in the Diary about the creation of Mewtwo in Cinnabar Mansion, South America is referenced to be where the researchers found Mew. "Diary: July 5, Guyana, South America, A new Pokemon was discovered deep in the jungle."

Or how Kanto is the name of an actual province in Japan.

And even Lt. Surge being called the Lightning American in the Japanese version of the games.

Or the countless references to the real world in some shape or form in the Pokedexs. Raichu PKMNFR: "Its electric charges can reach even 100,000 volts. Careless contact can cause even an Indian elephant to faint." PKMNSUN: "It unleashes electric shocks that can reach 100,000 volts. When agitated, it can knock out even an Indian elephant."

Golduck PKMNR,B,&LG: "Often seen swimming elegantly by lakeshores. It is often mistaken for the Japanese monster Kappa."

Ponyta PKMNSTADIUM: "Capable of jumping over the Eiffel Tower in a single giant leap. It's hooves are ten times harder than diamonds." PKMNFR: "Its body is light, and its legs are incredibly powerful. It can clear Ayers Rock in one leap."

Regice PKMNFR&LG: "Research revealed that its body is made of the same kind of ice that is found at the South Pole." PKMNE: "Its entire body is made of Antarctic ice. After extensive studies, researchers believe the ice was formed during an ice age."

Arcanine PKMNY: "A legendary Pokemon in China. Many people are charmed by its grace and beauty while running." PKMNG: "This legendary Chinese Pokemon is considered magnificent. Many people are enchanted by its grand mane." PKMNHG: "This legendary Chinese Pokémon is considered magnificent. Many people are enchanted by its grand mane."

Poliwrath PKMNG&HG: "This strong and skilled swimmer is even capable of crossing the Pacific Ocean just by kicking." PKMNE: "Its highly developed muscles never grow fatigued, however much it exercises. This Pokemon can swim back and forth across the Pacific Ocean without effort." PKMNBLACKWHITEBLACK2WHITE2: "With its extremely tough muscles, it can keep swimming in the Pacific Ocean without resting." PKMNX: "With its extremely tough muscles, it can keep swimming in the Pacific Ocean without resting."

Parasect PKMNFR: "It scatters toxic spores from the mushroom cap. In China, the spores are used as herbal medicine."

Delibird: PKMNE: "It carries food bundled up in its tail. There was a famous explorer who managed to scale Mt. Everest thanks to a Delibird sharing its food."

Xatu PKMNS&SS: "In South America, it is said that its right eye sees the future and its left eye views the past."

Gastly PKMNFR: "A being that exists as a thin gas. It can topple an Indian elephant by enveloping the prey in two seconds."

Or how Pokemon called things like the Duck Pokemon, Mouse Pokémon, Lizard Pokémon, Hermit Crab Pokemon, etc. All referencing real world animals.

However, in more recent games it seems they have decided to phase this out as the removed mentions to South America in the Let's Go Games, and replaced the Indian Elephant mention with Copperjah in Legends Arceus.

[talenlee]

Veganism In Pokemon

Veganism In Pokemon

There’s so little interesting stuff you can say about food in the Pokemon universe.

Not that you can’t say stuff about it, but rather that talking about food in the Pokemon universe is a well-worn and kinda boring topic. It was so boring, to me, that when I saw the the final Unravelled over on Polygon was about Brian David Gilbert tackling that idea, it wasn’t until uh… twenty minutes ago that I finally watched it. It’s boring. It’s someting a lot of people have looked into, and it’s been written about for twenty-five years. The second game had a plot point about people eating Slowpokes, after all.

The idea that ‘people eat Pokemon’ isn’t really controversial in the game, and it also tends to bring with it a deliberately muted understanding of what it means to eat meat, or what it means to exist in the world of Pokemon in the first place.

First things first, the Pokedex is not a reasonable source of information on anything. My personal theory is that the Pokedex is the product of Pokemon trainers that are meant to represent the target audience, and upvoted by those, with only the most basic forms of moderation from some adults. Magcargo is 18,000 degrees, for example, which makes it twice as hot as the sun, which means it bores its way through the planet the second it exists. Ponyta’s Pokedex entry mentions the Eiffel tower. Igglybuff is a perpetual motion machine. Gardevoir creates black holes. Larvitar eats mountains. Regice’s ambient temperature is cold enough to instantly kill you. Exploud is so loud that it kills you if you’re near it. Bewear kills its trainer accidentally. So many things about ghost types that are messed up, and the ghost types and Kadabra imply that Pokemon are a form of humans.

The Pokedex is nonsense.

It’s not a reliable source of information! Pokedexes are presented to you in terms of ‘discovering’ Pokemon, but every Pokemon you catch, someone else already knows about because you don’t name them and you don’t weigh them and they know things about the Pokemon you could not know before that point. So based on this, I am of the opinion that Pokedexes represent not facts, but generalised vibes and stories that kids tell one another about Pokemon and then, like a sort of child-oriented Reddit, the stories that the kids and their moderators see as the most appropriate. Like, a parent moderating the Pokedex group posts would block someone posting a bunch of dick jokes, but they would probably not care if kids think that Pyroar can breathe fire hotter than the sun.

Anything specific in the Pokedex is, therefore, to me, suspect. And it’s not a reach to say the Pokedex is unreliable, because the Pokedex has contradictions in it! Anything in there that represents really specific events? Probably not true. Anything that’s a general trend? Probably based on something?

In that case, we have some evidence that yeah, Pokemon eat Pokemon. People eat Pokemon. Pokemon eat people. And uh, Pokemon might be people, if you listen to the Pokedex.

And you fucking shouldn’t.

Of course, what we see of people obtaining food in the Pokemon universe doesn’t indicate the presence of industrial farming techniques. There’s definitely some kind of sliding scale about the social acceptability of Pokemon as food — I doubt Mr Mime flanks are available anywhere — but we do see farmers who keep Pokemon like Miltank and fishermen catching Pokemon like Magikarp and Seaking.

What complicates this is that in the Pokemon universe, the normal, default, non-carnivore foodstuffs are more complex than they are in our real world. In Pokemon, there are sapient fungus (though I mean, we haven’t got good proof we don’t have those), and trees and seeds and fruit. What’s more, there’s a complication when it comes to the renewability of these things and the consent of the operators.

See, right now, we eat apples and consider that ethically unharmful because the trees that give them up aren’t in any way expressing pain, and don’t seem to have the ability to care about their apples one way or another. And there are complications when it comes to obtaining animal products in the same way, where some people believe that the fact that an animal doesn’t have a humanlike sapience means that they literally can never be involved in a consent exchange, meaning that even things like sheep wool and honey are ethically unobtainable. I’m not here to argue for or against that position in the real world, they’re just examples of where some people stand on food and animal products.

But in Pokemon, we have proof there are non-sapient edible foodstuffs, but the presence of sapient vegetables, funguses and seeds begs the askance of how confident you can be the non-sapient ones. They’re not a safe category they way they are the way in the real world. This complicates things, but it also introduces a new space for consensual consumption.

Which is also weird.

I promise this isn’t about a Creepy Forum Style agreeing to eat someone after they die or killing them consensually. I don’t mean that, that’s its own thing, and I don’t care. What I care about is how the Pokemon universe is a place where vegan eggs and milk are available. Not vegetarian, but vegan, where the animals in question can approach you, and offer to you the eggs and milk they made, and invite you to eat them.

And that’s interesting but also odd. It’s odd because at this point you have to approach the whole question of food and consumption in terms of this kind of cyclical ecology. When you look at food in our world, food is ultimately a competition for resources. You may not see it the same way, but your can of chickpeas and a gazelle escaping a leopard are both doing the same thing of trying to find ways to put calories into yourself in a way you can operate on them. There are some things in our ecosystem that can turn something we can’t eat (say, dirt and sunlight) into something we can (kumquats).

And this is where we get to an interesting position of the fundamental framework of Pokemon as it relates to food. It’s easy to not notice it, but in Pokemon, you never need to buy food, and you never need to pay for medical expenses, which imply that this is a world where there’s some kind of universally available, convenient way for people to have their needs met. Like how for example, there are sapient creatures that can create food for you and willingly give it up. Like how there are some things that seem to have no actual relationship to the laws of thermodynamics.

(If the Pokedex is reliable.)

(Which it really isn’t.)

Anyway, point is, Miltank gives Vegan milk, if it gives it to you and Exeggcute is an almond that can disagree with you eating it.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Games #Pokemon

[owleri]

So in 1996, Creatures Inc. (a company that helps develop Pokémon games) published a Pokédex book. The book never made it out of Japan, but Dr. Lava hired someone who helped translate the first four generations of games to translate the book in 2021.

Since this book was created very early on in the franchise's history, it has a lot of stuff that was dropped entirely, never made it into the games, or was revisited in some form later on. The full article can be found here, but here are some highlights:

* The series hasn't undergone Earth Drift yet, so the setting is "the real world, except there also happen to be Pokémon". The first place this comes up is how in-depth studies of Pokémon first took place in 18th-century France.

* The study of Pokémon is in its early stages, to the point that many Pokémon with stone or trade evolutions are only hypothesized to be related to each other.

* The Ponyta line is capable of clearing Tokyo and Kyoto Towers in a single bound. Ponyta has dex entries in the games that mention it jumping over the Eiffel Tower and Uluru (named as Ayer's Rock in-game), which are of comparable height to those buildings.

* Mankey's anger issues are theorized to be related to their having a calcium deficiency, which is... not how calcium deficiency works.

* Rhyhorn are stated to be terrible house pets. The player character's mom in XY keeps one as a pet.

* Female Nidoran losing their ability to reproduce when they evolve originates from this book, which means it's intentional game design rather than a glitch that never got fixed.

* The horns of male Nidoran glow in various colors to attract females. This fact never made it into the games.

* A diagram confirms that the "height" statistic refers to a Pokémon's body length.

* Squirtle is said to have a long, retractable neck. This only comes up in its FireRed dex entry, but the idea was revisited much later on with Drednaw.

* People haven't figured out that Venonat and Venomoth are related yet, and it's implied the same is true for Magikarp and Gyarados.

* Arbok and Raticate are stated to have a fierce rivalry; this dynamic between them was dropped and eventually used for Seviper and Zangoose.

* Porygon was created the previous year by Silph Co. and the authorities are investigating why and how they're being offered as prizes at the Game Corner.

* The "boy woke up as a Kadabra" story that appears in so many of its dex entries is presented as being a work of fiction akin to The Metamorphosis instead of literal truth.

* Aerodactyl is stated to be an ancestor to birds, which isn't how pterosaurs worked. This idea was revisited with the Archen line.

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

i forgive you for that scathing review of cubchoo 😔 (not every pokemon is going to be someone's favorite after all!), that said, i'd love to see what you think of ponyta!

Ponyta!!!!

Ponyta’s one of those archetypal Fire-types that consists of just taking a regular animal and setting it on fire. Normally that’d be a criticism, but it actually works quite well with a horse because mane to fire is such a natural conceptual transition. I’m pretty sure it’s an approach that’s been done frequently, but like, that’s because fire horses are just a good concept. Maybe a little boring, perhaps, but good. Also bad for riding, but don’t worry, it’s not hot if it likes you!

Being on fire isn’t Ponyta’s weirdest thing, though. Apparently it has hooves ten times harder than diamonds, which is a bit absurd. More surprising still is its obscene jumping ability, stated to be able to clear both the France’s Eiffel Tower and Australia’s Ayers Rock in a single leap. Which apparently EXIST in the pokemon universe, despite Kalos already having a Paris with an Eiffel Tower analogue, so like, what’s going on there. But yeah, despite some impressive physical feats and name-dropping, I’m kinda not that into Ponyta. It’s cute, sure, but horse on fire isn’t really a thing that personally grabs me.

So it’s a good thing we’ve got a Galarian Form to look at, too! Galarian Ponyta is a little Psychic-type pastel unicorn, with cuter proportions and cotton candy-like hair. It was revealed in the lead-up to Sword and Shield in a special promotional video framed like a wildlife cam, with teasing hints of Galarian Ponyta like individual body parts shown and its cry being heard before finally concluding with a proper reveal. Personally, it was the hypest bit of prerelease material there was, in large part because of how gosh-dang perfect Galarian Ponyta is! It’s got BEAUTIFUL colours and its mane and tail even light up!!!!!

Of course, a pastel unicorn screams Fairy-type, so it being Psychic instead was something of a shock. It makes sense, though, given it specialises in healing poison; Poison is weak to Psychic. This skill is further reflected in its signature ability, Pastel Veil, which prevents allies from being poisoned plus healing any existing poison conditions. Its horn also has healing properties in general, and in addition to that, it can read the “contents of your heart” through your eyes and detect evil. All very thematic for a unicorn!

Anyways, shiny Kantonian Ponyta has BLUE FIRE!!!!! The correct way to do a shiny for any Fire-type with visible fire, and one of the best shinies as a result. More Fire shinies should really do this, but not even its evolution Rapidash does. Shiny Galarian Ponyta swaps the lavender for an ivory colour, which is certainly pretty, but not nearly as pretty as the base colour scheme.

Overall, I may not be that into Kantonian Ponyta, but Galarian Ponyta is one of my favourite Psychic-types and probably my favourite regional variant, in addition to quite possibly being the best thing to come out of Gen VIII. It is SUCH a good design. Also, one last thing: it’s called the “Unique Horn” pokemon. Like, “uni-corn”. Good stuff.

My little cotton candy pony/10.

[faline-cat444]

Whether or not this is a regional variant of Ponyta/Rapidash...

...Here’s a refresher on some important points to keep in mind about the fire horse going by its Dex entries over the years:

Ponyta

Hooves are ten times stronger than diamonds

Has the ability to trample anything flat rather quickly

Can jump incredibly high(Going over landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Ayers Rock in a single leap are used as examples)

Rather weak upon birth but builds up strength by chasing after its parents

Back kicks anyone it senses from behind

Mane and tail grow in about an hour after birth

Usually lives in fields or around mountainous areas

Rapidash

Loves to run and can reach up to 150 mph in ten steps and will chase anything that moves fast in hopes of racing against it

At full speed its feet barely touch the ground

The longer it moves the bigger its flames become

Mane sparkles when it goes all-out

[pocketfantasy]

Ponyta’s Pokedex entry occasionally references real-world landmarks, the Eiffel Tower in Pokemon Stadium and Ayers Rock in Pokemon FireRed. In Japanese versions, both entries make reference to the Tokyo Tower.

[umbreonlibris]

PokéStudies: Is the Pokédex reliable?

@sammarkham We generally think of the Pokédex as a reliable source of canonical Pokémon information. But have you noticed how incredibly unscientific it is?

First, the flavour text is often inconsistent and will contradict entries from other generations. For a quick example, look at Bulbasaur: Red/Blue says "A strange seed was planted on its back at birth," but then Silver says "It carries a seed on its back right from birth." So was it there at birth, or was it planted? Not to mention Stadium calls it a "bulb-like pouch" instead of a "seed," but that could be considered non-canonical.

Second, entries are repeated or recycled. The Bulbasaur entry for the Gen V games, for example, is the same as for Diamond/Pearl, despite being a few years later and a different region; it also has the same information as in Crystal, only with different wording. Put all the Pokédex entries together, cut the repeated information, and you have a fairly short and frequently contradictory entry.

Third, each species is assigned a single height and weight value, even though we know (from the Magikarp fishing side quest at Lake of Rage, not to mention Pokémon Go) they are both quite variable.

On top of that, the "height" measure has no standard: is Bulbasaur measured to the shoulder, the top of the head, or the tip of its bulb? Serpentine Pokémon must be measured head-to-tail, but what about Pokémon that can stand on both two and four legs, like Rattata—would they be measured head-to-tail or at standing height? All this means we end up with a 5'11" Furret and a 5'7" Charizard, which is pretty unbelievable.

Fourth, speaking of unbelievable, the Pokédex really likes to make exaggerations. Magcargo apparently burns at 18,000ºF—nearly double the Sun's surface temperature; a punch from Machamp can throw you over the horizon; and Ponyta's hooves are harder than diamond. Can any of that be true? 

And finally, fifth, the Pokédex refers to locations in the real world, and even real animals: Arcanine is a Chinese legend, Ponyta can jump over the Eiffel Tower, Raichu's electricity can KO an Indian elephant. But do any of these places exist in the Pokémon world? Do these references mean anything to Pokémon trainers? (Actually, that's a topic for another PokéStudies!)

How could this happen? How is it that the primary reference text of the Pokémon universe is so unscientific? We know that technology in this world is incredibly advanced, so there is definitely some good scientific research going on, but clearly not here. Consider that Pokémon biology is the climate science of the Pokémon world: most people agree that it is important, but the people in power are not willing to fund it. (Which brings up another question: who is in power, anyway? This will be a PokéStudies topic in the future!)

The original Kanto Pokédex was Professor Oak's passion project. He spent decades working on it, collecting Pokémon data and writing the flavour text, with the help of only a handful of aides. The sample sizes must have been tiny, the text hastily written and poorly fact-checked… with the result: all their research is condensed into a single height and weight measure and no more than one or two sentences of flavour text that are often wrong. The only truly useful and comprehensive feature in the Pokédex is the database of habitats. Plus, the devices are only given to a handful of trainers. All this points to a severely underfunded research and development program!

The Pokédexes of other regions, then, rely on the foundation provided by previous models as much as possible as a way to reduce costs—paraphrase the existing entries to hide your blatant plagiarism, write the entries for the region's native and endemic species, and voilá, a new Pokédex. Mistakes aren't found or fixed, and often end up becoming part of the "common knowledge," repeated endlessly without question (sound familiar?).

All this is not even mentioning how many Pokédex entries tell us only about myths and legends about a Pokémon, as opposed to anything about its actual biology.

The Pokédex may be the ultimate source of Pokémon information, but it is far from reliable. Next time you pick up a Pokémon game, take everything you read with a good pinch of salt.

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