How do TMs work?

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The White King

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Maybe theres something I don't know, like something from the show but as far as I can tell from the games you just throw a disc at the pokemon and it magically learns a new move.
Does it eat it? Do you put it in your pookegear or computer? Or are all pokemon secretly cyborgs with cd-roms? I'm on to you Game Freak.
 
I think that TMs work a bit like the elemental stones, but as oposed to these, TMs are man-made...
If a TM touches a compatible pokemon it will shine and will teach the given pokemon the move, just like a stone will make a certain pokemon evolve if it touches it...
 
That certainly makes sense. I've also read a theory that you put it into the front slot on the TM Case, and it fires a ray at the Pokemon you want to learn the move, and there you go. Personally, I like the Evolution Stone theory, more.
 
I don't know, I kind of like the TM machine theory better. They look like discs, which implies to me that they're supposed to go into some kind of disc drive. Stones aren't really designed to fit anywhere, so it would make sense that they would activate on touch, but Nintendo specifically made TMs to look like man-made objects that are used in a specific way.
 
i think you put them into your pokedex, which tells you if it can work for the pokemon, and if it can, it gives you instructions on how to train the move.

Ash's Pikachu didn't learn iron tail through magic lasers, you know.
 
I wonder at what point TM design was finalized, since back when Ono's comic was running, they were shown as boxes filled with powder that you sprinkled on the pokemon's head.
 
Aviculor said:
i think you put them into your pokedex, which tells you if it can work for the pokemon, and if it can, it gives you instructions on how to train the move.

Ash's Pikachu didn't learn iron tail through magic lasers, you know.
Click to expand...

I like that theory best. The art in the bag shows them as different colored discs (with the disc color corresponding to the type) and the Pokedex probably has some slot or disc drive for inserting them. After that, either a video comes on showing the Pokemon the attack or some kind of subliminal thing that rewires their brain to know it (like hypnosis, I guess). After that, if it's a TM, it kinda erases itself (like Div-X discs did) and spits it out or spits it out whole if it's an HM (which I imagine, since they're free and can be reused at will, are the Pokemon attack equivalent of freeware.)

That not only explains their disc shape, but also how some people give you their TMs and why some cost more than others, and others (the Draco Meteor lady and the starter guy) have to manually teach the move.
 
Blackjack Palazzo said:
I wonder at what point TM design was finalized, since back when Ono's comic was running, they were shown as boxes filled with powder that you sprinkled on the pokemon's head.
Click to expand...

As late as RSE, they looked like that in the TCG as well.

I really like the Pokedex idea, but I had always assumed it was something a bit more like the ray theory, probably because of the Pokemon instantly learns the move. I guess the hypnosis theory would explain that problem.
 
Neku said:
After that, either a video comes on showing the Pokemon the attack or some kind of subliminal thing that rewires their brain to know it (like hypnosis, I guess). After that, if it's a TM, it kinda erases itself (like Div-X discs did) and spits it out or spits it out whole if it's an HM (which I imagine, since they're free and can be reused at will, are the Pokemon attack equivalent of freeware.)
Click to expand...


That sounds like it could be accurate. Not really the video part I don't think, but the hynosis-brain-rewiring. It would be like a move-tutor Pokemon version of what happened in A Clockwork Orange, except less corrupt.
 
TMs and HMs are CDs as far as I can remember. I think u put the cd into the tv to teach them the move. That's what I think.
 
In my mind it is rather simple. You put the TM-CD in the TM-CD box, it probably has a fancier name but I got LeafGreen yesterday and I'm not up to date. Anyway the pokeball goes in its own slot on this TM-CD box and the TM changes whatever virtual reality the pokeball generates to entertain the critters into a dojo. In that dojo there is a pokemon. It can be whatever but I think a Mew with sunken eyes and a long, thin, white beard. Due to the otherworldly/digital nature of the pokeball a year is compressed into mere seconds in the outside world, a year in which Mew and the pokemon in question train endlessly, probably to the song Eye of the Tiger. On the last day of the year the Mew approaches my pokemon. “Only one can hold the title of master.” He tells him.

My pokemon then replies, “I understand what I must do.”

The only response is, “Strike true, my pupil.” And with that my pokemon charges his attack and slays the only companion he has had for the past year. It must end this way as a true master can never merely faint and as a result the TM is lost forever. The dojo fades and the pokémon is withdrawn, standing in the field.

He looks to me and speaks, “I know Mega Punch.” His voice is coated with cool resentment of the harsh events of the past year thrust onto him for the pure purpose of making him stronger in a fight he never chose.

“Show me.” I reply flatly as I look off into the distance. A year may have gone by for him but to me it was just 3....2....1....poof. There were more pressing matters at hand in the here-and-now. He turns his head and looks to see what caught my eye, another pokemon stands tall and ready for battle. He then shifts his feet to fully face the new opponent. He lets out his cry while his fingers fold themselves into a fist, glowing with the energy of his newly mastered attack.

Anyway, that’s just how I see it.
 
Funny. I never thought that Pokémon game mechanics would play out so much like Matrix action sequences.

Nevertheless, nice little blurb there.
 
After being linked to this thread, I figured it appropriate to post this:

4_waza.GIF


And after going to the effort of translating that, the first thing I have to say is... God I hate kanji without furigana. >_>;;

(And holy crap, it's my first post here since 2005. I was still in high school back then!)
 
6163 said:
In my mind it is rather simple. You put the TM-CD in the TM-CD box, it probably has a fancier name but I got LeafGreen yesterday and I'm not up to date. Anyway the pokeball goes in its own slot on this TM-CD box and the TM changes whatever virtual reality the pokeball generates to entertain the critters into a dojo. In that dojo there is a pokemon. It can be whatever but I think a Mew with sunken eyes and a long, thin, white beard. Due to the otherworldly/digital nature of the pokeball a year is compressed into mere seconds in the outside world, a year in which Mew and the pokemon in question train endlessly, probably to the song Eye of the Tiger. On the last day of the year the Mew approaches my pokemon. “Only one can hold the title of master.” He tells him.

My pokemon then replies, “I understand what I must do.”

The only response is, “Strike true, my pupil.” And with that my pokemon charges his attack and slays the only companion he has had for the past year. It must end this way as a true master can never merely faint and as a result the TM is lost forever. The dojo fades and the pokémon is withdrawn, standing in the field.

He looks to me and speaks, “I know Mega Punch.” His voice is coated with cool resentment of the harsh events of the past year thrust onto him for the pure purpose of making him stronger in a fight he never chose.

“Show me.” I reply flatly as I look off into the distance. A year may have gone by for him but to me it was just 3....2....1....poof. There were more pressing matters at hand in the here-and-now. He turns his head and looks to see what caught my eye, another pokemon stands tall and ready for battle. He then shifts his feet to fully face the new opponent. He lets out his cry while his fingers fold themselves into a fist, glowing with the energy of his newly mastered attack.

Anyway, that’s just how I see it.
Click to expand...

Best first post. Ever.
 
I like the pokedex idea, but with a few changes.

Maybe there are some wires that you plug into pokedex. On the other end of the wires, there might be some... thing that the pokemon wears on its head. How to operate the move is then transmitted through the wires into the pokemon's brain. Then, the pokemon knows the move.
 
If it's not the Pokédex instruction thing, it probably has something to do with putting it in the Pokédex and having it send some beam towards a Pokéball. But that doesn't explain Pikachu's Iron Tail. Maybe it also works without Pokéballs, or the writers just took some liberties.

Or maybe it's just supposed to be a mystery.
 
Pikachu learned Iron Tail without a TM, Chaz uses his Sentret to show Pikachu how to use Iron Tail in "All Things Bright and Beautifly!" and I have yet to see a TM/HM being used in anime at all
 
I doubt it's related to the Pokédex, since that would mean everyone but the player characters and their rivals would be unable to use TMs.
 
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