Nagging questions about the Pokémon universe

[Herbizarre]

We all know Pokémon shouldn't be taken seriously, but sometimes you can't help but ask questions about stuff that'd pass off as either silly, or questions that no one would think about asking. I'll start with an example to give a better idea of what I mean :

If Purugly is classified as the "Tiger Cat" Pokémon, does it growl or does it hiss when it shows discontent ?

Does anyone else have these kind of questions ? If so, let's discuss together !

 

[Viridian Beedrill]

I'm baffled by the Pokédex entries that note the Pokémon is unusual because it "understands human speech." Don't they all understand human speech to some level? How would Trainers issuing commands work otherwise??? After lots of overthinking, I decided that all Pokémon can eventually understand their Trainers given a deep enough bond, but it's usually only their specific Trainers, and they have no idea what other Humans are saying. The Pokémon that "understand human speech," meanwhile, are good at picking up the gist of what Humans are saying even if that person is not the Pokémon's Trainer. Doesn't fully explain it, but it helps a little.

 

[NumberOneSpinelApologist]

Yes. I keep thinking about stuff that, well, is definitely not "genre appropriate" questions like, what is the economic system in the poke world
We have corporations, I wonder what kind of taxes do the corporations pay... And to whom?
There is free healthcare, so how is it funded? I doubt it is through randomly finding nuggets.
Also, would not a couple of meowths cause hyper inflation quickly?
there are probably no laws against nepotism in public services since joys and jennys are all related.

There is also the question I asked in a different thread about how the weather works when Pokémon can impact it easily

 

[Herbizarre]

Here are a few more from me :

1/ How stronger are humans in the Pokémon world ? Not just physically, but mentally ? Given how there are Psychic trainers with legimitate telekinesis abilites, Black Belts that can possibly spare with Fighting-type Pokémons without the latter having to hold back a lot, I have a feeling they would mop the floor with many IRL humans.

2/ The Team Galactic commanders are named after planets (and in Charon's case, a dwarf planet / said dwarf planet's moon), but there are no planets with actual names in the Pokémon universe as far as we know. This means two possibilities in-universe : a/ their names just sounded cool enough for them to get ahold of them, or b/ the planets in the Pokémon universe are actually named like ours, but have not been mentionned. And in the latter case, it would confirm the existence of roman mythology as a whole since our solar system's planets are named after roman deities... Am I reading too much into this ?

3/ How did humans evolve to become physically similar to us with Pokémons around them ? Surely, the homo sapiens of old would have had to compete for food against them, if not survival, and they would have evolved accordingly. Though I guess that would answer the first question I had in this post (as in, needing to be stronger physically and mentally), but that alone wouldn't enough, would it ? And that doesn't even get into how in Hisui, humans are skeptical about Pokémons as a whole until you complete the main game, with no signs of other regions having such difficulties...

In summation, I have so many questions to ask, and so little time to answer them

 

[NumberOneSpinelApologist]

Ah, there is also another one from me, a pretty fundamental one:
What are the basic laws of physics? Does this world actually have Aristotelian physics or based on similar principles as medieval alchemists thought our world works? Do they even have atoms, or is everything actually made of elemental forces made by energy of certain types? Or maybe, since aura is a thing, it is more based on the flow of "chi" and similar to how the east Asian world used to imagine physics?
But, If they do have similar physics to our world, do the intermolecular forces work the same? What is the value of Planck's constant, or other fundamental constants? Since things clearly work differently there, and the laws of conservation of mass and energy do not apply a lot of things must be different. What about entropy?
Would the string theory or multi verse theories be actually possible to verify in the Pokémon world, unlike in ours? I mean we as the audience know that there are multiple continuities, but how easy (or difficult) is it to check and research those things in the poke world?

and biology in this world? We know that life is cell based, but what is the cell structure?
Is solosis a single big cell, or more like a bacterial colony/biofilm?
Since everyone seems to have almost endless energy, do they have like magical mitochondria or something? Do plant Pokémon have chloroplasts?
This world clearly has quite unique plant biochemistry, since there are several plants you can just eat or easily make into medicine that heal almost any wound very quickly.
Also, I would like to run some tests on the herba mystica and see what substances it contains. Arceus, Isekai me into the Pokémon world and Give me a lab now!!!

 

[LegendsCelebi]

Here are a few more from me :

1/ How stronger are humans in the Pokémon world ? Not just physically, but mentally ? Given how there are Psychic trainers with legimitate telekinesis abilites, Black Belts that can possibly spare with Fighting-type Pokémons without the latter having to hold back a lot, I have a feeling they would mop the floor with many IRL humans.

2/ The Team Galactic commanders are named after planets (and in Charon's case, a dwarf planet / said dwarf planet's moon), but there are no planets with actual names in the Pokémon universe as far as we know. This means two possibilities in-universe : a/ their names just sounded cool enough for them to get ahold of them, or b/ the planets in the Pokémon universe are actually named like ours, but have not been mentionned. And in the latter case, it would confirm the existence of roman mythology as a whole since our solar system's planets are named after roman deities... Am I reading too much into this ?

3/ How did humans evolve to become physically similar to us with Pokémons around them ? Surely, the homo sapiens of old would have had to compete for food against them, if not survival, and they would have evolved accordingly. Though I guess that would answer the first question I had in this post (as in, needing to be stronger physically and mentally), but that alone wouldn't enough, would it ? And that doesn't even get into how in Hisui, humans are skeptical about Pokémons as a whole until you complete the main game, with no signs of other regions having such difficulties...

In summation, I have so many questions to ask, and so little time to answer them

1) and 3) maybe could be solved with the good, old "humans are also pokemon"? Which opens a new can of Weedles with questions like "are all humans the same species or different with different types? Can we catch humans in pokeballs? Is there a parallel universe in which Alakazam developed language and civilization before humans and are the dominant life form?"

 

[LegendsCelebi]

I'm baffled by the Pokédex entries that note the Pokémon is unusual because it "understands human speech." Don't they all understand human speech to some level? How would Trainers issuing commands work otherwise??? After lots of overthinking, I decided that all Pokémon can eventually understand their Trainers given a deep enough bond, but it's usually only their specific Trainers, and they have no idea what other Humans are saying. The Pokémon that "understand human speech," meanwhile, are good at picking up the gist of what Humans are saying even if that person is not the Pokémon's Trainer. Doesn't fully explain it, but it helps a little.

My understanding is that "understands human speech" means that the pokemon can comprehend complex language and meanings, which sets it above all other pokemon, whose communication is more like real world cats and dogs: they can learn that certain human sounds mean certain emotions or requests or events and can effectively use meowing and body language to communicate, but they would stare blankly if I tried to explain in words why is the cucumber not dangerous.

 

[da man/man]

If Meowth could learn to talk, that means at least a few Pokemon have the vocal chords to speak English/Japanese. So did they just not try hard enough? Does this make Meowth the most determined Pokemon out there?

 

[Pigrider09]

From a “when the games came out” perspective it makes absolute sense, but what about early gen pokemon make them so predisposed to regional evolutions, forms, or even appearing in other regions? Like, is there something in universe about kanto that lets its pokemon adapt, get new forms, and all that while no pokemon can really adapt to it really exist in its environment? What about paldea confines many of its pokemon to that specific area, at least until the next region comes around?

 

[Eitarou]

If Purugly is classified as the "Tiger Cat" Pokémon, does it growl or does it hiss when it shows discontent ?

Tiger Cat is just an overly literal translation of its Japanese category “Toraneko”, which refers to the tabby cat. It’s not literally meant to be an actual tiger.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

If Legends Arceus had Fairy type Pokémon and the game takes place long before every other game in the main series, then why do characters in XY describe the type as newly discovered if it's been around since the times of Hisui (which is like 100 years in the past?)

 

[Herbizarre]

Tiger Cat is just an overly literal translation of its Japanese category “Toraneko”, which refers to the tabby cat. It’s not literally meant to be an actual tiger.

... Which means that Puruglies hiss when angry. That's one answer I was looking for, thank you very much !

 

[Mialentia]

If Legends Arceus had Fairy type Pokémon and the game takes place long before every other game in the main series, then why do characters in XY describe the type as newly discovered if it's been around since the times of Hisui (which is like 100 years in the past?)

I can only assume that that knowledge was lost to time. The Pokédex was credited as Oak's invention as well and not Laventon's.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

I can only assume that that knowledge was lost to time. The Pokédex was credited as Oak's invention as well and not Laventon's.

Oak's dex is an electronic handheld while Laventon's dex is a book of notes about Pokémon.

Laventon (likely since they could make a game that takes place even before Legends Arceus) created the first Pokédex, as in a huge encyclopedia of Pokémon information. Oak invented the modern day digital version.

 

[Mialentia]

Oak's dex is an electronic handheld while Laventon's dex is a book of notes about Pokémon.

Laventon (likely since they could make a game that takes place even before Legends Arceus) created the first Pokédex, as in a huge encyclopedia of Pokémon information. Oak invented the modern day digital version.

Yes, I know that. The fact remains that Laventon is never credited as having created the first Pokédex as far as I'm aware (outside of a cameo on a blackboard in SV, he isn't seen or mentioned outside of PLA).

 

[LegendsCelebi]

Yes, I know that. The fact remains that Laventon is never credited as having created the first Pokédex as far as I'm aware (outside of a cameo on a blackboard in SV, he isn't seen or mentioned outside of PLA).

I can imagine that Laventon is just one of the pioneers of poke-encyclopedias in a period of time which saw sudden, significant advances in technology (pokeballs allowed catching, cameras appeared...) and thinking (a newfound drive among the society to learn about the world). Laventon went half-forgotten because he was, at the end of the day, just one guy in a faraway colony, even if he was the first to start a pokedex. Just as in the real world there existed bilogical taxonomies before Linnaeus, but he is remembered as "the father " of taxonomy. Even though he didn't invent the idea of catalogs of plants, he "just" made them more systematic and then travelled enough to create a large catalog and get famous.

 

[Kathylikestoread]

Why can't starters be found in the wild?

 

[RichestAirPirate]

I can imagine that Laventon is just one of the pioneers of poke-encyclopedias in a period of time which saw sudden, significant advances in technology (pokeballs allowed catching, cameras appeared...) and thinking (a newfound drive among the society to learn about the world). Laventon went half-forgotten because he was, at the end of the day, just one guy in a faraway colony, even if he was the first to start a pokedex. Just as in the real world there existed bilogical taxonomies before Linnaeus, but he is remembered as "the father " of taxonomy. Even though he didn't invent the idea of catalogs of plants, he "just" made them more systematic and then travelled enough to create a large catalog and get famous.

So basically, Laventon is kind of remembered as a pioneer for Pokémon Encyclopedias.
Oak probably took his idea and said "What if we made this as an electronic" Of course, he never says this because they definitely didn't think Laventon at the time of any of the Kanto games or their remakes but still, something to think about.

 

[RichestAirPirate]

Why can't starters be found in the wild?

If Island Scan in the Alola games is anything to consider, they are able to be found in the wild. They're just very very very very VERY hard to find.

 

[Viridian Beedrill]

If Legends Arceus had Fairy type Pokémon and the game takes place long before every other game in the main series, then why do characters in XY describe the type as newly discovered if it's been around since the times of Hisui (which is like 100 years in the past?)

Also wondered this. I oscillate between completely ignoring the fact the characters said that and headcanoning that the "discovery" was a breakthrough study to resolve an academic debate about whether Fairy energy was distinct enough to be considered its own Type, rather than people in the Pokémon world being totally oblivious to the Type's existence until XY.

So basically, Laventon is kind of remembered as a pioneer for Pokémon Encyclopedias.
Oak probably took his idea and said "What if we made this as an electronic" Of course, he never says this because they definitely didn't think Laventon at the time of any of the Kanto games or their remakes but still, something to think about.

Another idea: Oak invented both the first portable* electronic Pokedex and the National Pokedex system for cataloguing species, which is why he is generically called the "inventor of the Pokedex". You could also say this explains why Kanto species are listed first in the National Pokedex. Other region's species get added in later as those regions' scientists "buy into" Oak's classification scheme.

*I say "first portable" because I quite like the idea of there having been giant ENIAC-style electronic Pokedexes at some point, where researchers brought in notes from the field and logged it to the Pokedex on punch cards.