Fridge Brilliance entries can be found here.
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Fridge Horror
- Where are all the highways (or railways)? Cities in the Pokemon world are shown having paved streets, skyscrapers, and sizes which would suggest six or seven figure populations. How come the routes from one city to another are always dirt roads through pristine wilderness with pedestrian traffic. Perhaps because wild pokemon are just THAT dangerous, and it would be easier to defend the borders of a city from attacks versus roads in the wild. Maintaining an intact, multi-lane freeway between any two places would be a nightmare—if you thought hitting a deer would be bad, just wait until it's a Rhyperior using hyper beam on you! And then there'd be the roadkill...
- In the episode "Mystery at the Lighthouse", the gang stumble upon a lighthouse, enter it, and meet Bill, a Pokémon researcher who is trapped inside a Kabuto costume until they help to free him. Had the trio not come along to help, Bill would never have been able to free himself and could have starved to death inside the costume!
- In the episodes centered around Sabrina: When Ash comes and challenges her, she says they have to "play with her" if he loses. In this case, that means getting teleported to a town model and getting run over by a giant ball, or getting turned into dolls to literally be used as such. Ash and company escape thanks to Sabrina's dad... but suppose not everyone who lost received the same privilege...
- Alternatively, since Gary's 10 badges established there are other Gyms than the games' canonical eight, and that Sabrina's badge was not one of them, it's possible that other trainers knew of her reputation and sensibly avoided challenging her in the first place.
- That still begs the question of how they would know to avoid challenging Sabrina. Unless a trainer had to suffer the same fate as Ash and company and not live to tell the tale...
- Alternatively, since Gary's 10 badges established there are other Gyms than the games' canonical eight, and that Sabrina's badge was not one of them, it's possible that other trainers knew of her reputation and sensibly avoided challenging her in the first place.
- When Misty has Gyarados take out Shedinja in "A Togepi Mirage" it may have just knocked out Shedinja, but it looks badly burned, and after it collapses it's last seen lying motionless on the ground while Hansen is arrested, and that's the last we see of it. Given that Flamethrower can be a lethal attack, Gyarados may have actually killed it.
- Hunter J's death takes on a more morbid tone when you consider this: When her ship blew up, killing her and her minions, all their Pokémon would have perished too, while inside their Poké Balls, having no idea what was happening.
- Wait! It gets even better! In the episode Sandshrew's Locker, the gang found a Poké Ball underwater, with Mira's Sandshrew inside, still alive. Now take that logic and apply it to Hunter J's and her henchmen's Poké Balls (and possibly any kidnapped Pokémon that happened to be on the ship at the time), which could have very well survived intact and wound up buried in the rubble of the wrecked ship at the bottom of Lake Valor. Where they're probably all going to be for a very, very long time. And even if someone could retrieve them, it's highly doubtful anyone cares about J enough to make sure her Pokémon are okay. Have fun!
- Her fate could be even worse than that: Since the only possible way for her to survive the ship sinking and exploding is if she were to petrify herself with her arm cannon, it may not be any better, since she would not be able to unfreeze herself (plus, nobody would want to help de-petrify her).
- Think of the second episode of Diamond and Pearl. James finds his Carnivine in a box of bottle caps. It's been sitting in there for only God knows how long. Likely years literally in suspended animation. No wonder it's always trying to eat James.
- Wait! It gets even better! In the episode Sandshrew's Locker, the gang found a Poké Ball underwater, with Mira's Sandshrew inside, still alive. Now take that logic and apply it to Hunter J's and her henchmen's Poké Balls (and possibly any kidnapped Pokémon that happened to be on the ship at the time), which could have very well survived intact and wound up buried in the rubble of the wrecked ship at the bottom of Lake Valor. Where they're probably all going to be for a very, very long time. And even if someone could retrieve them, it's highly doubtful anyone cares about J enough to make sure her Pokémon are okay. Have fun!
- In the first episode of Rival Destinies the gang goes on a roller coaster with loops (inside a Gym). But Pikachu and Axew are riding on their caretakers' shoulders, not buckled in or held. How is that safe?
- A Maractus Musical! showed one of the musical contestants with 3 Zen Mode Darmanitan. If you understand how the ability Zen Mode works, imagine how that contestant managed to get all the Darmanitan into Zen Mode.
- Maybe they got to Zen Mode by using Belly Drum?
- Given Iris’ fear of Ice-type Pokémon, how’s she going to react upon seeing a Fairy-type and discovering that they’re immune to Dragon-type moves?
- If you take the idea that Jessie and James are teenagers seriously, it makes their incompetence a lot less funny—it basically means that they're inexperienced minors who have ended up in a life of crime because they didn't have any other options (Jessie was poor and failed to reach the goals she wanted, James can't go back home because he'll be forced into an abusive marriage if he does).
- They are in their mid-twenties (~25), that's why Jessie gets so offended about being an old hag. The teenagers thing is a confusion caused by English language semi-official sources. They were forced out of options as teenagers, though, which is still pretty damn tragic. note
- In "Primeape Goes Bananas", Ash accidentally catches a riceball/"donut" in a Pokeball. Funny gag, but it raises a disturbing question: what else can be caught in one? Is it possible to catch a human with a Pokeball?
- Considering how often people have Poké Balls thrown at them, either accidentally or as just a general hostile gesture (equivalent to throwing a rock at someone), getting smacked and battered by them without the balls ever even opening... probably not.
- Now with the introduction of Yamask, yes you now can catch a human soul.
- "Hypno's Naptime" has a large group of children being hypnotized into thinking they're Pokémon. What if some were hypnotized into thinking they were Flying-types? Would they have jumped off high vantage points? The city is full of skyscrapers, after all. For that matter, what if the ones who thought they were Water-types decided to swim in the park's pond? Would they have drowned?
- In "Who Gets to Keep Togepi?", after Team Rocket steals the egg Meowth decides to take care of it, even getting mad at James for suggesting they eat it. It's rather sweet how Meowth treats the egg, such as sleeping with it, singing to it, talking to it, bathing with it... except that eggs are porous. Fertilized eggs rely on those pores to "breathe" and humidity needs to be absent by the time the egg hatches. Too much exposure to water will drown the embryo. Meowth could've accidentally drowned Togepi.
- In "The Future Is Now, Thanks To Determination!", Team Rocket makes a device that brainwashes Electric-type Pokemon against their own will and causes them to attack whoever the device's controller wills them to. Devices like this clearly can't have any use for good. If a villain or dictator was able to acquire or gain knowledge of these brainwashing devices, they can easily use them to amass a giant army of Electric-type Pokemon and use them to take over the region. Not to mention the Electric-types' powers being used on unruly citizens...
- Mareanie attacks James. Ha! How funny! However, it loses all hilarity when you remember James was wearing a Corsola helmet, and Mareanie prey on Corsola. The attack may have been less of a funny gesture...and more of a predator trying to feed.
- At the end of the second appearance of the evil Malamar escape with their doomsday weapon. They are not seen for the rest of the series. They may try again, only this time Ash, friends, and Team Rocket aren't around to stop them.
- In "Computer Soldier Porygon", the anti-virus can't distinguish humans and viruses, as Meowth points out. Do viruses in the Pokemon world take on a humanoid form? And are they sentient?!
- Episode SM045: Uhh... where did Kiawe get the meat for his hamburger?
- The start of the Necrozma Arc has all of the adults in and around Alola suffering from a lack of energy and drive due to Necrozma absorbing energies from the region via a small wormhole. While Kukui in a shirt and Lusamine looking like she just rolled out of bed is funny, and Wicke basically acting like she's on her period around Faba is really funny, it isn't funny when you take into account just how many services and jobs were likely affected by this energy drain. Doctors, construction workers, parental supervisors, lifeguards, power plant workers, ferry operators...Alola would be very lucky if there weren't causalities from the slowed reaction times and motivations. Especially for those who might have been hit by the initial effects of the wave while doing something important, like driving a car or operating on a person's vital organs.
- It may have been lessened by the possibility that this started at night, thereby reducing traffic, because not too many people drive at night, and I don't think people operate on a person's vital organs at night.
- They operate on organs when the organs need to be operated on, and organs care not for time of day.
- Wicke found Stufful under a fallen tree. At first glance, it might look like a bad stroke of luck, until one recalls that the very first thing that a Bewear was seen doing in the anime was knock over a tree by accident...
- Episode 012 of the Journeys anime reveals that Eternatus is currently free in Galar, which leads to a lot of uncomfortable thoughts as to how it got loose and the consequences; it caused interference with a plane's systems just by flying to check it out, even if it wasn't malicious.
- From episode Here comes the Squirtle Squad in original Japanese, Meowth says that if Ash doesn't return with the Super Potion for Pikachu, the Squirtle Squad will kill Misty. While they were only joking, it is still disturbing that cute looking Squirtle would kill humans...
- More Fridge Tearjerker, but Pikachu not willing to evolve into Raichu makes sense when you see the circumstances of his Pichu form evolving. Last time Pikachu evolved, he abandoned his surrogate family of a Kangaskhan and her baby, he most likely associates evolving with the idea of leaving someone he cares about behind. He doesn't want to evolve, because if he became a Raichu, it'd be as if "Pikachu" abandoned Ash.
- In one episode, we are introduced to a elderly Pikachu nicknamed Puka. It is not specified exactly how long Pikachu live, but Puka has been with a man for 20 years and was young when they met. We can probably safely presume by this that Pikachu have much shorter lifespans than humans do, so Ash is likely going to far outlive his Pikachu. This also implies that Pokemon have different lifespans than humans depending on species, so this begs the question of which of Ash's other Pokémon is he also going to outlive? And, what about other trainers as well? Is Meowth going to get old and pass away long before Jessie and James do?
- Courtesy of Spacebattles user KMT4EVER
The way the Contest circuit is set up compared to the Gym challenge is a really high-stress environment. Assuming that you try to qualify completely within one year like most of the protagonists and their rivals, but even then there are some noteworthy factors about the nature of contests themselves.- There are only a fixed number of Contests every year and only one person can win a ribbon at each of them. Meanwhile there's no meaningful limit to the number of badges that one Gym can award every year. Challengers can also come back for as many rematches as they want, while coordinators can't re-enter contests they've lost. That means coordinators really can't afford to lose compared to Gym challengers.
- Because only one person can win any given Contest, coordinators are actually disincentivized from traveling with their peers because they would simply end up getting in each other's way. Someone like Harley might enjoy that, but most people aren't Harley.
- Ribbons are awarded by defeating peers who use any variety of Pokemon, which both forces coordinators to be more flexible with their team and potentially screws them over if they end up facing vastly more experienced competition every time. I'd hate to be the rookie who has to face May or Drew in Johto without having even seen a Blaziken or Roserade before.
- Contests take place in front of a large audience, meaning that there's a lot of psychological pressure that isn't necessarily present in the usually private gym battles. You lose a Contest, you just lost (possibly badly) in front of thousands of people.
- On a related note, successful coordinators appear to attract quite a bit of attention. Both May (even though she just started competing) and Drew are recognized multiple times throughout AG by people who saw them on TV. Meanwhile, IIRC, the only person who recognizes Ash from the Silver Conference is Max. Ash could lose a dozen Gym battles in a row and nobody would know aside from the Leaders themselves. Meanwhile a coordinator on a losing streak is liable to have that brought up whenever they compete.
- All this attention constantly on people, many of them 10-12 year olds can and does have a negative effect in the real world, so what about the world of Pokemon? How many of them react to attention and focus in something like eating disorders originating from the stress of attention and focus.
- To summarize these points: Coordinators are competing in a lot more hostile environment for fewer resources and are actively competing with each other every step of the way unlike gym trainers. You ever wonder why so many coordinators tend to be kind of jerkish (Drew, Harley, Ursula, Kenny, heck even Zoey can be a bit prickly sometimes)? It's because they are under levels of stress a gym trainer aren't outside of actual tournaments every day of their careers. And unlike with Gym Trainers and badges, it is confirmed each ribbon is one use only, so there is no safety net for them either to try again with their achievements.
- Additional stress-inducing fridge horror is that this likely also applies to Pokémon Performers in Kalos.
- For those thinking that Gladion wasn't any better at communicating about what happened to Lillie, think about it: These are kids. There Are No Therapists may be in play, but so is Surprisingly Realistic Outcome — what adult would believe a 6 year old who said something like that (particularly about a supposedly trusted employee)? And Lusamine probably would have gone "Not Now, Kiddo". Gladion was probably a bit traumatized himself witnessing the scene, even if he could have told someone what happened.
- Guzzlord's appearance after the Alola League is bit odd to say the least. Perhaps...the Bad Future Ash ended up in some episodes ago wasn't so distant after all...
- Remember when Iris's Dragonite got blinded by rage and started attacking indiscriminately in Ash, Iris, and Trip: Then There Were Three!? It was inside a stadium full to the brim with people. Good think Ash and Krookodile defeated Dragonite otherwise, well... You can guess on your own.
- More comedic than anything, but given that Goh's choice of a socialization focused Trial Mission was something he utterly dreaded, how bad were the other options that 'teaming up with others to fight Articuno' was the most appealing to him? What sort of social work was more terrifying to Goh than that?
- In the fourth episode of the original series, a Beedrill carries off Ash's Metapod. Why would it do that? There's a disturbing possible explanation: some species of wasps will lay their eggs in the pupae of other insects...
