My snorlax, Bear let himself out of his pokeball in the car. Bear’s okay, but the car is… well, you can probably imagine. Will insurance pay for that? Also, how do I keep Bear from letting himself out at inopportune times?

That depends on your insurance, I’m afraid. Many cheaper policies consider these acts of God—or worse, the fault of the policyholder. If you invest in a more expensive policy with a more reputable company, then there’s a chance that it might be covered. You would really need to read the fine print to be sure. (I wouldn’t recommend relying on the word of an agent exclusively. Never trust anyone working in insurance.)

As for keeping Bear from breaking out, that will be difficult, and the only way to do it is to train that behavior out of him. Establish when he may come out (i.e., only in emergencies), and use positive reinforcement to teach him that he should only come out when you summon him otherwise. For example, every time he stays in his ball until you let him out, feed him a treat.

Of course, you’ll also need to address why he breaks out as well. Pokémon can perceive a limited amount of the outside world from within their poké balls. (Usually, it’s just their immediate surroundings and a vague notion of the passage of time.) It’s possible that Bear may be startled or scared by the motion of the car as well, at which point it would be a good idea to show him your car (well … once you get it repaired) and let him see you drive it around the block or so forth so he can begin to understand that it’s nothing to be afraid of. If that’s not it, you may need to dig a little deeper in order to understand what drives your snorlax to break out, whether it’s fear … or boredom.

Best of luck!

Hey Bill, Mawile hoarder egg Anon again. Thanks for the advice. as you probably guessed by the origins of the egg, i’ve got some connections to Law enforcement, and was wondering if Mawile can be effective Police partners if i decide to join the Force myself when the little lady’s a bit older?

Truth be told, practically anything can be an effective police partner with the right sort of training, in the right type of situation. Many pokémon are even trained for particular specialties, such as psychic-types for investigation, canines and flying-types for search and rescue (as they’re hardier than psychics), ghost-types for psychic crimes, and so on.

In mawile’s case, while the species can in general be effective for interrogation (given their usual special abilities), it wouldn’t be unusual at all to find one on the beat as well, given their size and ability to startle fleeing suspects.

So in short, absolutely. Best of luck!

Hey Bill, have you heard the rumours about the kanto pre-evolutions going around? They all came out of nowhere, but now people are convinced they can find Meowsy’s in the wild, so I’m asking you as a veteran in the buisness, should we get our hopes up or take it for no more than a rumour?

Unfortunately, as delightful as it would be to see some of these preevolutions, they’re merely a combination of urban legends and speculation after the discovery of pokémon such as happiny. You see, in the early 90s, the internet was quite a strange place, and as such, some people created webpages dedicated to what they wished had preevolved forms, complete with “pages” cataloging such (this was before blogging) and rather expertly done doctored images, often of such things as mops or kittens. These pages took off and managed to convince others who were less familiar with the more creative side of the internet, and before anyone realized it, the rumors took off.

No one’s quite sure what eventually killed the first craze of “baby pokémon,” although it may have had to do with the thorough debunking early Web 2.0 engaged in. Eventually, people forgot about it until nostalgia-based blogs and social media outlets dug up those old pages.

It certainly brings me back to my childhood, I must admit. The early web was a fascinating place, readers.

what non-water type dragon types are good in water? i.e is haxorus a good swimmer?

Unfortunately, no, but there are certainly others!

The easiest way to explain is that if it doesn’t live in the water, then chances are, it’s not a particularly good swimmer. Thus, the tyrunt line, vibrava and flygon, the axew line, and druddigon are perhaps the worst swimmers, although with enough patience, the axew line and druddigon can learn. Also, despite living in cave or mountain systems with sources of water nearby, the same can be said for the jangmo-o line, the deino line, turtonator, and the gible line. (Of these, only the gible line and deino’s evolutions can’t be taught to swim—the latter only because zweilous’s heads get in the way, and hydreigon prefers to fly, regardless of what you have to say.) Altaria also struggles, more because its wings can’t retain moisture that well. Lastly, Alolan exeggutor, despite thriving in its island environment, lacks the limb mobility to swim. It can float, however, and is known to wash up on the shores of the other Alolan islands from time to time.

By contrast, the best swimmers are obviously kingdra and dragalge, as both of these live exclusively in the water. The dratini line is also marine in nature, and dragonite is perhaps one of the best swimmers that actually has limbs. Drampa can also be found enjoying a swim through Alolan rivers on particularly sunny days, and the goomy line, being an amphibious pokémon that needs water to live, will often be found doing the same in Kalosean swamps. Finally, shockingly, both bagon and noibat are excellent swimmers, likely due to necessity. Both tend to nest in cave systems (or cliff systems, in bagon’s case) with water sources, and both have a tendency to drop out of the air without warning. Noibat retains this ability to swim even after it figures out how to fly as a noivern, but bagon, perhaps due to a combination of an extended pupal state combined with a generally less graceful adult stage, loses that ability upon evolution and must be retaught. (Note: It’s not possible to teach a shelgon due to its weight and lack of mobility, but with enough patience, you may be able to teach a salamence.)

This all, of course, excludes legendary pokémon (whose swimming habits we generally know very little about) and mega evolutions (which don’t entirely count anyway).

As a bi male I am deeply upset about Cynthia being gay but…. Is STEVEN?

themaninmeteorfalls:

bills-pokedex:

I’m afraid I can’t say for certain, as Steven has rarely expressed interest in anything beyond rock collecting, battling, and occasionally my partner. And even then, I’m not sure if that last one is an indication of his own preferences, simple professional interest, or a response to the fact that my partner delights in making me uncomfortable.

You’re adorable when you’re jealous. —LH

That’s not an answer! —Bill

May I presume anything that I say won’t be believed? Particularly when it comes to matters of my own private life.

As for Lanette, she is a delight to talk to and a consummate professional. Such interesting conversations we have! This is no to impugn your own qualities, Bill, for all you Systems developers are a charming bunch indeed.

Though, if it would make you feel better, you may ascribe my interactions with your editor to hometown pride.

Well! While I can’t promise anything from the tabloids (I’m sure you’re aware of how they are), I can at least safely say your word is good on this blog, Steven. Better than mine, in fact—I can only tell our good readers common knowledge about any of you champions. It certainly wouldn’t be my place to say anything else.

As for Lanette … on the one hand, I’m glad and proud of Lanette that she has been an excellent representative for our group in Hoenn.

On the other, you’re still jealous? —LH

Just a bit. —Bill

All right. Next time you’re in Hoenn, I’ll see if Steven would be interested in coffee with the both of us … if you promise not to take up all our time by talking about collecting or what Devon Co is up to with him. —LH

…wow, you’re really making me promise you the moon there, Lanette. —Bill

As a bi male I am deeply upset about Cynthia being gay but…. Is STEVEN?

I’m afraid I can’t say for certain, as Steven has rarely expressed interest in anything beyond rock collecting, battling, and occasionally my partner. And even then, I’m not sure if that last one is an indication of his own preferences, simple professional interest, or a response to the fact that my partner delights in making me uncomfortable.

You’re adorable when you’re jealous. —LH

That’s not an answer! —Bill

Hey bill, Birthday anon with the 6 starters again. You were right. about a couple days after i received them, Rowlet, Piplup, and Torchic were doing fine together. I often worry if they’ll get up to crazy antics like three certain Ponyta in My Little Ponyta: Friendship is Magic. As for Turtwig, are there any House Plants i need to dispose of lest they make him sick on consuming them? I removed stuff like my Lilies and such already, but I wanna be certain. Treecko and Snivy are Stoic as per norms

Well! I’m certainly glad that everything worked out in the end. It’s great to hear that your uncle is so supportive of you and that your pokémon get along rather swimmingly.

Regarding your question concerning your turtwig, generally speaking, if it’s not a good plant for you to eat, it wouldn’t be a good one for your turtwig to eat. That having been said, among the most common houseplants or garden plants that aren’t good for your turtwig: daffodils, buttercups, holly, poinsettia, primrose, tomatoes (the fruit is fine, however—just remove the leaves and stems), ivy, hyacinth, yew, bird of paradise, bamboo, rhododendron, azalea, periwinkle, and elephant’s ear. Also, do not feed your turtwig bulbs, dry seeds (softer ones in fruits are fine), or pits, and avocado, onion, and potato are likewise dangerous. On the other hand, ferns and aquatic plants are strangely okay, so it may be worth it to try buying the sorts of plants sold in the same shops that sell pet magikarp or goldeen.

Best of luck!

Asking for a friend, the legend of the Ninetail’s curse, what, in theory, would one need to worry about happening assuming someone accidentally ran a wild Ninetail’s tail over with a bike? Other then a flamethrower to the face, my friend already got that. Many Thanks.

Well, rest assured that pulling or otherwise harming a ninetales’ tail does not, in fact, result in a thousand-year curse. It simply involves a Flamethrower to the face, as you’ve already noticed.

(I, too, only know this through the misadventures of a friend and not from personal experience.)

Hey, Bill. I heard a rumor that the Archen line were the parents of all Bird-like Pokemon. Is that true? What about Aerodactyl then? Also, if I may ask, what’s your favorite fossil Pokemon? I’m personally partial to Sheldon and Bastiodon myself!

It’s true! Archen adapted, slowly but surely, into other bird pokémon, depending on the habitat. This frequently resulted in branches of adaptations that became all modern-day bird pokémon.

Aerodactyl, on the other hand, actually belonged to a completely separate line of pokémon that ended with aerodactyl sometime in the late Cretaceous (likely as a result of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event). While the descendants of archen included smaller, bird-like pokémon that could adapt easily to the resulting climate changes, the pterosaur-like pokémon such as aerodactyl were far larger and consumed more energy simply to move, and, well, that would be why they never survived past the extinction event, sad to say.

As for my favorite fossil, now that is a difficult question! I’m quite partial to kabuto myself, as they aren’t technically extinct but have managed to survive in smaller numbers and in extreme environments. Because of this, they’re our best window to the ancient world and could provide a whole host of answers to questions humans have been asking ourselves for aeons.

However, all of them are quite fascinating, and the shieldon family is likewise an excellent choice!

Hi! First off, I have good news! My Sunlight nested pretty heavily a few days ago and this morning I found her and an egg! I’m so exited and happy for her! Now, for my question, is it possible for a pokemon to be half shiny? I was lucky to catch a cute lil axew some years ago and back then nothing was off, but he evolved to a haxorous not too long ago and his colours are a fade from a normal one to a shiny one. Like a gradient almost. I’ve never hear of it before. Have you?

First and foremost, regarding Sunlight, congratulations! It’s great to hear that she’s doing so well. May the hatchling be happy and healthy!

As for your question, it’s actually entirely possible. Although shininess and standard coloration are both defined as specific palettes according to breeders, the possible colors a pokémon can be is actually more of a spectrum. Pokémon can possess pretty much any combination of colors: limbs or appendages that are actually of the shiny variant, pelts that are shades lighter or darker than they should be, and even scales that display a cross of both. It’s just rarer for it to happen as such, but for a pokémon to be born like that? It’s certainly possible.

However, for evolutions, you’ll need to be a bit more careful, especially if the preevolution was not colored that way. In some cases, yes, the process of evolution could trigger a unique sequence of genes that results in odd coloration compared to the preevolved form, but in some cases, this could be an indication that there’s an underlying health issue. It wouldn’t hurt to take your haxorus out for a thorough check-up, just to be on the safe side.