Tag: asks

I was comparing my Sinnoh pokedex to my Alolan friend’s pokedex, and it looks like a lot of the Alolan entries are really horrifying compared to other pokedexes! Drifloon’s body can burst with a screaming sound? Primape gets so angry that it dies? Why is the Alolan pokedex so scary?

There are a couple of reasons behind this, anonymous.

First and foremost, there are cultural differences at play. In comparison to Sinnohans, Alolans are blunter and gifted with a slightly darker sense of humor. Perhaps it has something to do with the capricious and often violent nature of their island guardians or perhaps it has to do with the fact that every island except Poni features a major site for the dead, but death is just a part of life to Alolans. They celebrate it as being an honorable or otherwise inevitable state of being, the final end to what had hopefully been a fruitful and adventurous life. As such, they talk about death in frank terms; it’s both important to talk about and a subject that one can make light of. So when you see an Alolan entry refer to death, it’s not meant to be morbid but rather a statement that death can and will happen to even the best of us. This is in stark contrast with the Sinnohan viewpoint of death, as Sinnohans have a tendency to avoid the concept altogether, likely due to its own (rather negative) folklore on the subject. Likewise, the Alolan pokédex may be gorier than any other regional index, simply because Alolans in general are a lot more open about discussing topics that are considered taboo or otherwise impolite to cover in other cultures. Even Unovans tend to be rather prudish concerning violence in comparison with Alolans—or at least, Unovans are when it comes to showing violence to their ten-year-old trainers.

In short, a lot of it has to do with the fact that the writers of these entries tend to write according to their culture, and the Alolan dex, while it had help from a Kantonian, was primarily edited by an Alolan.

The second reason, of course, is the fact that it was also edited by the ghost-type rotom, but it’s important to note that not all of the morbidity is because of the rotom by itself.

Do people from different regions have different accents? What do they sound like?

Speaking from experience, yes, we do indeed, anonymous. I must admit it’s rather difficult to describe because there are so many possible accents in the world. Some regions even have multiple possible accents, depending on which part you’re talking about. For example, people from Goldenrod City don’t actually sound like people from Ecruteak City, and even fellow Kinjin may sound different, depending on which district you come from. As an example within an example, both Bebe and I are from the same city, but she comes from the newer Northeast Side, which is close enough to Violet City to experience a sort of blending of the two populations. By contrast, I come from a far older neighborhood in the southwest, which itself has a unique accent due to the high number of rather ambitious immigrants, many of whom have given Goldenrod its reputation as a melting pot and center of art, business, and modern culture. Consequently, my accent is commonly thought to be the typical Goldenrod accent, whereas Bebe’s is far lighter and more mixed with a Violet City accent.

Ultimately, the divisions of accents depends completely on regional and personal history as well as general culture. Specifically, although we all speak the same language, one of the reasons we all have different accents due to the fact that prior to the introduction of Common, our languages were extremely varied. English sounds different from Japanese, after all, so when both speakers made the transition to Common, one could still tell what a person’s original language had been. Additionally, accents can vary from people to people, even if the native language had been the same. For example, Kinjin once spoke Japanese, as did many other people in the Kanto and Johto areas, but they emphasize their vowels, leading to longer, softer-sounding words. This lines up with Goldenrod’s history as a center of commerce: it’s easier to do business if you speak slowly and soften your voice, as you come off as more personable than the stiff and quick-speaking people of Kanto. And of course, there is also the fact that Goldenrod was a major entry point for immigrants, which in turn contributes to how different it sounds compared to the dialects of Kanto and the rest of Johto (what with assimilation and all).

Of course, this overly simplifies linguistics, but these tend to be the primary reasons why we still have accents despite, well, the fact that the majority of us speak the same language.

As for what we sound like specifically, that I can’t answer because it would take far too long to detail every single accent possible. I suppose I can describe my own accent in comparison to my colleagues’ and leave it at that. In which case, yes, I speak a bit slower than the others, and my voice largely comes from the back of the throat, rather than the palate or the front. As a result, my vowels tend to sound longer, and it’s been noted that I have “trouble” pronouncing H and R and that any word wherein R is the predominant sound becomes muddled (although quite honestly, all of you should be able to figure out what I’m talking about from context).

Well, to be fair, you were talking about a charizard’s breath that one time. —LH

Why would I be talking about how far it breathes?! —Bill

I recently received an Alolan Muk as a present from an old friend of mine… but I live in Sinnoh. How can I help her adjust to the colder climate?

Ah, your friend chose well. While it’s true that Alolan muk must be acclimated to cold temperatures (due to the fact that their bodies are primarily composed of actual liquid), they’re among the easiest pokémon to introduce to cold weather.

To do this, begin by keeping your muk indoors. If you live anywhere else but Snowpoint and if it isn’t winter, you can actually allow your muk to spend time outside for any length of time she can tolerate. Try to encourage her to increase the amount of time she spends outside little by little until she adjusts. If it is winter or if you do live in Snowpoint, however, the acclimation process should start by allowing her to wander about your home for any length of time she can tolerate, then withdrawing her into her poké ball to rest. Once she adjusts to your home, then she can move outside. Always watch for signs of freezing, however, such as spots on her body that seem a little stiff or the formation of frost. If you see any sign that she’s freezing over, immediately bring her inside and allow her to thaw by a heater or beneath a set of blankets.

Best of luck, anonymous!

How long do pokemon live for? Do some pokemon like rattata, have longer life expectancy than their animal counterparts?

Excellent question.

Yes, for the most part, all pokémon have longer lifespans than their animal “counterparts.” Therefore, yes, a wild rat may live for about one to two years, but a wild rattata may live for up to ten years—sometimes even fifteen if allowed to evolve and if taken care of well.

On that note, evolution can generally extend a pokémon’s life span, but it should also be noted that a pokémon may live twice as long if in captivity, rather than in the wild. For example, whereas a pichu may live for four years in the wild, they live for eight years in captivity. Captive pikachu may live for about fifteen years (same as raticate), and captive raichu may live for over twenty.

Keep in mind that all of these are estimates, of course. There have certainly been records of pikachu outliving some raichu (that is, a pikachu may live for over twenty years), and of course, just because you find a four-year-old pichu in the wild doesn’t mean it’s near death. It all depends on a variety of factors, including and especially the quality of life.

And yes, there are also pokémon who live for so long we’re not entirely sure what their lifespans are. This is especially true for the legendary pokémon, but dragon-types are equally notorious for this. For example, some families in Johto have passed down the same dragonite from parent to child for generations, and that dragonite may not look a day over whatever young age it had reached when it evolved.

when i was a child I went camping in the mountains with my family and met a drampa who guided me back to the camp and has never left my side since. well, he has suddenly started trying to return to the mountains and bring me with him. I have woken up on multiple occasions to being on his back on the way up Mount Lanakila. why is he doing this?

I’m afraid it’s part of a drampa’s natural instincts, anonymous. When they find a child they particularly like, they make every effort to bond with them. Then, after a period of a few years (admittedly, no one is quite sure how long or what determines the length of this period, as it seems to vary wildly from drampa to drampa), each drampa whisks its chosen child away and begins flying back to the peak of Mount Lanakila, where it’s said that the entrance to the drampa homelands is hiding.

(I also realize this sounds as if I’ve made that up, but I assure you, there is, in fact, very vague records of a hidden valley the drampa call their homeland. Whether or not those records are true is an entirely different matter.)

That having been said, there are ways to curb your drampa’s urges. The easiest is simply to capture him if you haven’t already. If you have, order him to stay with you. While this may be a bit difficult for your drampa—as all tests of willpower are—there have been very few cases of a drampa disobeying a direct order to refrain from starting for the drampa homeland.

The somewhat more difficult method involves becoming less virtuous, as drampa prefer playing with or whisking away innocent, gentle children. How you interpret “virtuous” depends on you and the specific personality of your own drampa, but suffice to say, the less virtuous you are, the more likely your drampa’s interest in whisking you away will wane. Unfortunately, this is also a risk because your drampa may become interested in someone else, and in any case, it’s still not a guarantee that he will give up on you.

Best of luck, anonymous!

my hakamo-o is fighting with all my other pokemon! my pyukumuku was sleeping near the pool and all of a sudden hakamo-o comes up and wakes him up and then attacks him! my mimikyu usually stops him before anything really bad happens but he keeps doing this no matter what i do. he wasnt like this as a jangmo-o, why is he doing this?

Unfortunately, as a partial fighting-type that, in the wild, spars with other hakamo-o to hone their skills, your hakamo-o is responding to the instinctual drive to better himself through fighting. It just so happens that your pyukumuku, being a pokémon that doesn’t normally move on his own, is an easy target in your hakamo-o’s eyes.

I would highly suggest increasing the amount of time you train your hakamo-o. Allow him to spar with your other pokémon if you don’t already, and increase the amount of time he spends sparring if you do. Also consider allowing him to battle against other trainers’ pokémon. The goal here is to satisfy his daily need to spar—basically, his daily need to let off steam. The more active he is, the easier this will be.

Luckily, when he evolves once more, he may calm a bit more. Kommo-o are territorial and prone to intimidating others, yes, but they prefer to intimidate over engaging in battles with just anyone.

Best of luck, anonymous!

I live in alola and have really bad depression and go to the beach every night. On one particularly bad night a brionne came up on shore as i was crying and started doing tricks and trying to make me smile… every night since the brionne will come on shore to meet me and do tricks. I bring it food and toys and play with it, but when i leave it looks really sad and makes noises. Would it be a good idea to catch it?

If it looks rather downtrodden every time you leave it, that may be a good indication that it wishes to go with you. I would bring the idea up with this brionne. Offer to allow her to live with you and present her with a poké ball. Explain what it is and see how she responds. If she seems excited by the prospect of being with you full-time, then yes, catch her. If, however, she attempts to pull you towards the ocean or otherwise moves towards the water, then I would suggest seeing if you can visit her more often.

If you do adopt her, it seems you already know the basics of keeping a brionne. Just be sure that she has plenty of water in addition to the food and toys you already give her, and she should be fine on shore.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Do injuries on pokemon carry over to their evolutions? Like if a Bulbasaur had a scar/wound on its face (or anywhere), would the injury still be on the Ivysaur it evolves into? What would happen with something more serious, like a broken leg? And what about when pokemon lose body parts upon evolving, such as Kadabra’s tail, or Servine’s legs?

Yes, actually. While evolution seems to resolve minor injuries such as the scratches and bumps caused by battling, permanent or serious injuries—such as missing limbs, scars, and even status ailments—carry over to a pokémon’s new form. In cases in which a pokémon naturally lacks certain limbs in their evolved form (as in the cases of kadabra or servine, as you’ve noted), they may still carry scars roughly where the body part would have been. For example, if a kadabra loses its tail, it will carry a scar on its lower back and pelvis as an alakazam.

Why is a whole different subject. Evolution is a complete metamorphosis; a pokémon’s physical attributes are basically rewritten based on what’s dictated by their genetic code. By all accounts, you would think their evolved forms would become whole and fully healed, but for whatever reason, that’s not the case. Researchers have tried since practically the advent of pokémonology, but it’s still a mystery to this day.

If i were to give my mimikyu another costume do you think she would wear it? her current disguise has become rather worn, and so i want to pop to the store and get her some fabric to make another costume. I am happy to make another pikachu costune, but do mimikyus feel comfortable wearing a disguise of another type of pokemon? on the subject, would mimikyus appreciate customization? such as putting a bow on their costume.

It actually depends on the mimikyu, anonymous. Some are extremely proud of their costumes and will refuse to exchange it for any reason. Others see a human’s enthusiasm for helping with their costume as a potential bonding moment and will readily allow you to customize, help repair, or even create an entirely new costume for them. It doesn’t hurt to ask your mimikyu if you can help them with their costume. You could even take yours fabric shopping to better communicate your desire with her. Look for any sign that she’s interested in your opinion, including presenting fabrics for you to touch or allowing you to pick eye materials or customizations. If she goes directly to whatever she wants and blocks you from offering any input, then it should be clear that she wishes to create her costume herself, at which point it would be recommended that you allow her to do so.

If, however, you two do end up working on a costume together, remember that when it comes time for her to try her new costume on, you’ll need to avert your eyes until she’s finished. The last thing you’ll want to do is to undo all the hard work you put in bonding with her by accidentally looking at her true form.

Good luck, anonymous!