Awkward Zombie

Oh, that was hilarious. Pokemon is such a handy source of Fridge Horror when you stop to think about it.

edited 23rd Jun '14 1:22:02 PM by Heatth

Pokemon trainers are horrible people.

I'd say the anime is more a source of Fridge Horror, by posing the idea that the Pokemon is somehow conscious within the Poke Ball.

The core mechanics of the Poke Ball in the games imply otherwise. We're told that the Ball converts the Pokemon into data and stores it. Where in the anime, Pokemon were transferred to the Professor to roam wild in his fields, in the game, their data is uploaded to a server and digitally stored.

The games indicate that Pokemon inside their Ball exist in digital stasis until the next time the ball is opened. They become lines of computer code, rather than living, thinking, feeling entities. Their loyalty to their trainer also seems to be digitally imprinted into them when they're caught; similar to how TMs and HMs, in the form of computer discs, can be used to rewrite their code while in their digital state in order to introduce new capabilities, like Rattata suddenly being able to breathe fire.

While the anime goes to great lengths to try and present them as organic beings that are shrunken down and sent to little party farms when captured, the games make no attempt to conceal the fact that the entire dynamic only works because they're digital lifeforms by nature, capable of being stored, manipulated, and transmitted as computer code in-universe.

edited 23rd Jun '14 2:01:57 PM by TobiasDrake

OH COME ON KATIE

I know! At least release the poor fellow.

Or at least give him a companion in storage :V

Ah, Living Pokédexes...

But then how does one explain why the Luxury Ball is apparently more comfortable than others? Or them being able to train with punching bags and hang around on fancy cushions while in the balls in some of X and Y's bottom-screen modes?

edited 23rd Jun '14 9:25:15 PM by Enlong

They don't.

Like, at all. Super Training and Pokémon-Amie never get any flavorful explanation for their existence. They're there from the beginning of the game, they give you a tutorial if you click onto them, and that's that.

Where is the giant blow-up balloon and the soccer ball that the Pokémon throws at them coming from? Where are the cushions and Poke Puffs coming from? Why can other Pokémon from other people's teams far, far away come over and leave gifts? No explanation.

They don't even make the barest effort to justify it in the lore, probably because anyone who's really concerned about EV Training and such doesn't really care overmuch about the lore.

It's not happening inside the Poke Ball because only one Pokémon can be out at a time and other Pokémon will just come over and chill on your cushions, eat treats you left out, and leave presents. But it's not happening inside the server, because only Pokémon in your active party can participate. But it's also not happening out in the field because...well, because wandering around a rocky cave isn't exactly your Pokémon's private leaf pad or an arena with a giant blow-up balloon.

So it's never really justified in any way.

edited 24th Jun '14 7:14:49 AM by TobiasDrake

You know, the whole "Pokemon are turned into data and put in stasis" thing... kinda makes me feel worse about it.

I imagine it's more of a shrinking or hammerspace-environment thing, with the balls. Now, digitizing is a thing, with the computers.

You've created a time paradox!

Okay, that was pretty hilarious.

Yeah.

In a really Fridge-horrific way.

Ignoring the literal Dead Baby Comedy for a second, I have to wonder if Wario didn't just send the other racers tumbling to their doom, if the nearly empty last panel is anything to go by.

Baby Mario survived. When he was run off the road, he crashed and nearly died, the experience instilling in him a sense of fear. He grew up to be a very cautious man, never becoming the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom he was in the original timeline. Luigi, on the other hand, grew up feeling the need to protect his elder brother, and so when Bowser first invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, he was the one to answer the call, eventually becoming the hero his brother was meant to be.

Since when did Mario Kart collide with F-Zero?

The truth behind Pink Gold Peach.

I think the look on Bowser's face sells it.

Duh duh duh da dun. Duh duh duh da dun.

Inb4 "But the T-1000 was the liquid one!"

Some people won't let anything stop them from being with who they love.

That's me. Every day of my life.

....

Wow. You must look awful then.

I am in the same boat. Kitty, why must you inflict such pain on me?

Katie's androgyny got turned up to eleven. Incidentally, I just noticed a second ago the roots of the word androgyny.