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Hello! I’m moving to Alola very soon with my Pokémon. It’ll be a long trip and I’m very anxious to board the plane alone. The airline allows one companion Pokémon to ride along with the passenger. I chose my Raichu, Thor, since he can ride on my lap. (The plane has size restrictions for Pokémon and those who are too large must travel inside their Pokéballs). Any tips or advice for air-traveling with Pokémon? How can I keep Thor safe and comfortable during the flight? How can I prepare better?

Generally speaking, when traveling with a pokémon, always, always keep it as calm as possible. A baby crying is one thing. A raichu consuming all of the oxygen in a closed cabin and frying the electrical system with a single Thunderbolt is something entirely different. The best way to do this is to keep your poké ball on hand and be ready to recall your pokémon at the first sign of panic. In addition to that, bring plenty of distractions in the form of your pokémon’s favorite snacks and toys. Most importantly, interact with your pokémon throughout the ride. Show it signs of affection, talk to it, and play with it—anything you can do in a limited amount of space. The more you can distract your pokémon and show it that you’re calm, the calmer it will be.

Also, when the seatbelt sign is off, don’t be afraid to get up and walk your pokémon up and down the aisle (whenever possible, anyway). The exercise will likewise keep them calm and steady. However, try to avoid letting your pokémon roam without you, and never let your pokémon out of your sight. If you need to use the lavatory and your pokémon can’t fit in the cubicle with you, put it in its ball.

On that note, while takeoff isn’t so bad, landing can be rather alarming to a pokémon, especially due to the jarring bump at the end. Some pokémon can be calmed if they’re able to look out the window and watch the plane landing, but others would very, very much prefer an aisle seat. Usually, it’s easy to predict which your pokémon will be just by how they react to both heights and stress in general. The calmer a pokémon is, the more likely they won’t be affected by the view.

And of course, leading up to the trip, be sure to explain to your raichu as clearly as possible what the trip will entail. You might wish to consider showing him clips of planes in flight or images of the inside of an airplane, just so he can familiarize himself with what it means to travel.

Good luck and safe travels, anonymous!

Why are Cryogonal, Minior and Dhelmise able tolearn attract despite being genderless species?

Surely I’m not the only one who finds sentient seaweed wrapped around a literal anchor attractive.

(I’m joking, of course. Please don’t prove my suspicions about the extent of the internet correct.)

On a serious note, the truth is that any pokémon can execute the move, as it’s easy enough to replicate, regardless of your species. That’s why quite a few pokémon can learn it, even if it wouldn’t make sense due to their lack of a conventional reproductive system. The truth of the matter is it’s fairly easy to mimic courtship techniques, regardless of what the internet and romantic comedies will have you believe.

Whether or not that move is successful is an entirely different story. That part is fairly in line with what the internet and romantic comedies will have you believe, but suffice to say, it’s easier to look aesthetically attractive to a living being than it is to actually seduce them.

Hiya Bill! Did you hear about the little wind-up Pokemon Toys? I think their called Rumble Toys, and they’re so cute! I finally got my first Starter Set (The Oshawott line) for my birthday, and I absolutely love them! Do you collect any? Also, how do they make toys of rare ‘Mons so accurately? Like, my friend has a Zekrom (He spent so long trying to get one, its crazy) and it looks just like the ‘Dex says the real Zekrom would. It has Teravolt and Dragonbreath, too! Isn’t that awesome?

I have indeed heard of those! My partner and editor collects them, actually.

[[HEY, BILL. WHY DON’T WE TALK ABOUT YOUR EXTENSIVE COMIC BOOK COLLECTION IN PUBLIC? —LH

Oh, could we? I never get a chance to do that! —Bill]]

Strangely, although one would think I’d be enthusiastic about collecting pokémon merchandise, I … actually don’t. I only really buy or otherwise acquire them if I think one of my friends who are avid collectors would like them.

From what I understand, though, the company that makes them, Wonderko, prides itself in creating extremely realistic depictions of pokémon with built-in mechanisms designed to create a limited number of scaled-down replica moves. For example, the Zekrom toy is programmed to use “Teravolt,” which is really just an electric shock delivered by a tiny battery and channeled through its surface.

If anyone’s wondering why a toy would be capable of this, the power of each of these “moves” is scaled down enough to be relatively harmless to humans, but really, the toys are simply inactive figurines without the accompanying Wonder Key. Most parents know better than to give their children said key, but on the off-chance that they do, collectors of these toys argue that the resulting shock (or what-have-you) would be an educational experience for a child who might wish to handle real pokémon in their future.

In my personal opinion, that sounds like a lie, but seeing as I know nothing about raising human children, I can’t really dispute it.

Hi Bill! Hows it going? I had a question beside the one I asked already, which is: Can you split the badges you get in both Johto and Kanto as in get badges any combination (1 and 7, 2, and 6, 3, and 5, 4 and 4) from either region and still participate in the league since the two regions are connected, or do you have to get strictly 8 badges from either region?

Unfortunately … no. Although Kanto and Johto share an Elite Four and champion (but not conference), they’re considered entirely separate leagues (…partly because of the conference). As such, you must earn a minimum number of badges from the gyms sanctioned for the league you want to challenge.

Of course, you can earn badges within a league in any order you’d like, so if you’d like to earn the traditionally first badge, followed by the seventh, second, sixth, and so forth, you’re absolutely free. It’s just that some gyms are easier to access in a certain order than others.

What are some common hatch defects observed in the Charmander line? I tried asking a breeder but she started crying???? I hope she’s ok

Well … admittedly, hatch defects can be quite gruesome, so it can be rough for a sensitive breeder, especially if (and no offense intended to the breeder in one of these asks) the available genetic pool is … less than ideal for viable offspring, to put it as lightly as possible.

To put it bluntly, meanwhile, the worst of these will result in death, either shortly after hatching or, well, long after. Such deformities can range from abdominal hernias (in which the abdominal wall isn’t fully developed, causing internal organs to press against the skin—which is a condition that is not at all viable for life) to conditions in which the charmander will refuse to eat (which is possible to reverse with a lot of hard work) or in which the charmander will build up fluids beneath its skin slowly and for reasons that aren’t entirely understood in the pokémon medical world (which is not possible to reverse and will also result in death months after birth). Some charmander may even develop open sores due to an underdeveloped scale and/or immune system, although this, too, can be treated. However, if your charmander is born without scales or with an inability to produce more, that may make life somewhat painful for it, and battling with such a charmander is not recommended. They simply can’t recover as quickly as charmander with healthy scales, and wounds are more likely to become infected.

However, there are plenty of other conditions that are perfectly viable for life. Sometimes, charmander may be born blind. They could be born missing limbs, claws, or toes. Some have kinked tails (although if a charmander has a kinked spine—that is to say, spinal issues further up the column—then that pokémon may struggle when battling, just as a forewarning) or flames that burn a little dimmer than most, even when the charmander is perfectly healthy. Some have significant underbites or overbites (which only require some minor assistance for feeding when the charmander is young—they will learn to feed themselves eventually), and some are born without eyelids (which require you to administer eyedrops when they’re young until their eyes adapt). Some are simply born too soon and either have their yolk sac attached (which will fall off without any issue on its own) or are otherwise smaller than the rest of the clutch. As you can tell by the abundance of notes throughout this paragraph, all of these conditions result in charmander that can absolutely lead long and healthy lives; it’s just that some of these will require care, especially early on. And before you ask, no, evolution doesn’t “resolve” any of these issues. A charmander born missing a limb will be missing that limb as a charmeleon and charizard, but rest assured that this is perfectly natural and that the pokémon in question is very likely still perfectly healthy.

As a note, all of these deformities are possible in both standard and shiny charmander. Shininess doesn’t really increase the chances of a charmander being born deformed, as many of these deformities depend on a variety of factors entirely unrelated to a charmander’s color, from temperature and humidity of the incubator to genetic mutations on separate parts of a charmander’s DNA from the code that controls pigmentation.

Hi Bill! I wanted to ask for some advice about taking care of a Porygon. I’ve been thinking of getting one for some time now but first I want to make sure I can look after it properly. Thank you!

Actually, porygon are some of the easiest pokémon to care for because they don’t need much at all. At the very basic, they need a reliable and well-maintained computer or two, not to serve as housing but instead as a gateway to and from a digital world. They essentially live in the cloud, so as long as you have something that connects to a digital network (even your pokédex will do—just not a rotomdex, as porygon’s passage to and from the digital side of things may be awkward for both parties), your porygon will be perfectly happy. In other words, get a computer, an internet connection, and some decent antivirus software and avoid shady websites, and you should be fine.

Everything else is optional, more or less. Porygon don’t need to eat or sleep, but they can do either. (They have no consistent food preferences, so feel free to experiment until you find something your porygon likes.) They prefer games that involve their trainers (such as chess), and while they don’t need exercise in the same way other pokémon with natural, physical bodies do, it’s a good idea to engage in target practice once a day to hone their beam skills.

Maintenance is likewise very easy. Simply have your porygon enter a computer and run a porygon maintenance app. I personally recommend the one created by Meowthware Bytes, as it’s thorough and highly reliable. Just be sure to download it from the company’s actual website, as there are fake versions out there. This bit of software will not only run a basic health checkup and remove corruptions, but it will also run your porygon’s internal backup system for a complete maintenance session. This should be done at least once a week.

Also, whatever you do, don’t modify your porygon’s code, no matter how well-versed in computers you think you are. In the porygon stage, you could actually kill it this way. (The porygon2 stage may risk evolution, which is only a negative thing if you’re not prepared for porygon-z’s capricious nature … and tendency to corrupt tech it comes in contact with.)

What happens when you defeat the champion of a region, aside from winning the title? Do you assume the previous champion’s role? Also, I know of someone from Hoenn who beat Steven Stone at the league once and… Steven was still the final trainer you needed to battle after the Elite Four , whilst the trainer I knew went and continued their journey. Is it a choice to take the champion’s spot, or is there more to being champion than just beating the strongest trainer?

Actually, that first half of your question is spot-on. Beating the champion is a prerequisite. After that, as part of your registration into the Hall of Fame, you’re given the option to become the next champion. You could forfeit the title and continue onward, but as the title tends to be the end goal for many trainers, most will end their journeys there.

A champion can also use these rules to retire or take a break from their duties as champion. Red from Kanto, for example, retired by issuing a challenge for his title and being defeated by Lance. Steven Stone, meanwhile, did something of the same to take a sabbatical for several months before challenging and defeating his own successor, Wallace.

The latter was quite dramatic, although the former sparked quite a lot of outrage among the Kanto gym leaders. Or, well. Mostly Blue.

Do you ever read other Pokémon blog headcanons? You inspired a lot of people to start their own so I was curious

{True story: I thought a bunch of people just started headcanon blogs, just because, for reasons unrelated to this one. 😂 Thank you!

On a more serious note, I try to follow the #pokemon-headcanons tag as much as I can because as far as I know, that’s the best way to find blogs, so if you post there, there’s a good chance I’ll come across you. But I sometimes fall behind tag following a lot, and in any case, we all know how Tumblr’s tag search is, so there’re a lot of blogs I just don’t know about. Yet, anyway.

Or to answer your question properly: yes! But if I haven’t found yours yet, send a signed-in ask or let me know where to find you in general, and I’ll be sure to stop by. And on another note, if you ever see @theelectricfactory pop up in your followers, that’s the main, and that means I’m really interested in what you’ve got going on.

(This may or may not also be a thinly veiled request for people to send me their headcanon blogs because aww yeeeeesssss headcanons.)}