Tag: asks

I recently caught a Drifloon. Since I have read it’s Pokédex entry, I am horrified of it being near kids. What is the best method in trading my Drifloon to alleviate this fear?

Trading or training? I get the sense that you want to keep your drifloon (as you mention overcoming your fear of it), but then again, you may be asking how best to rehome it in order to alleviate your fears in an entirely different way.

So allow me to answer both questions separately.

If you mean training, the key here is trust. Remember that the pokédex is largely a generalization; while it indeed describes the most common behaviors of a species (usually), species are often complex, with members who might not fit the “standard” description. It would be like assuming all humans act in a very particular way.

That having been said, it’s important to get to know your drifloon. The only way to do this, however, is through training: the more time you spend with a pokémon, the more you begin to understand its needs, interests, and personality. That and you’ll naturally begin to train yourself out of your fear of drifloon via exposure therapy. So my advice is simply keep training it and spend more time with it. Eventually, you’ll alleviate your fear naturally.

If you mean trading, you have two options. The first is giving your drifloon up to a shelter and allowing them to find a good trainer for it. The second is using a trading network like the GTS to find a trainer who specifically wants a drifloon. (Many type specialists use the GTS in this manner, so you may have a good chance of finding someone who already knows about drifloon’s quirks and is prepared to offer good care.) Either way, be sure to talk to your drifloon first and reassure it that the reason you need to rehome it isn’t because of something it did but rather because you can’t give it the care it needs. Such a talk will make the trade less traumatic for it.

Best of luck!

Hey there Bill. It’s me again, the person asking if I could make a similar blog to yours. I did it, and the url is @fennelsunovablog. I read what you reponded and really all I can say is thank you so much. I was so afraid to ask you something like that and your response honestly made me tear up I was so happy :)

{Hope you don’t mind if I publish this so others can follow too. 😉 Let me know if you’d rather I’d kept this private, and I’ll delete it.

That said, glad to help! Good luck with the blog! :D}

Hello there! I don’t exactly know how to ask this question, but I saw your blog and I was inspired to do a similar one for Unova pokemon… of course, I won’t do it if you tell me you’d feel like I was copying you, which is understandable… But I was wondering where you got all your information or how you created it, if that’s an okay question to ask.

{Hi there! The mun here!

You sure can! ;D In fact, pretty much anyone’s good to make their own ‘dexes. All I ask is that you send an ask with the blog’s url (just like, without the .tumblr.com) so I can look it up and follow. I’d love to see what people come up with. 🙂

As for that second question there, Bulbapedia tends to be my go-to starting point. I read over the canon ‘dex entries there, along with their notes about biology and trivia points, and if something funny jumps out at me, I just sit down and write. If not, I’ll google the pokémon’s basis and try to come up with something funny based on the real-world stuff I dig up.

Asks tend to be a bit more involved. Oftentimes, I don’t really use Bulbapedia and instead rely on real-world stuff, which means Google and Wikipedia are my best friends. Google especially is handy because I can just throw in a question (for example: “how do you take care of a pet bat”) in quotation marks, hit the enter key, and usually get a solid answer within a few hits. Wikipedia, meanwhile, is great for explaining more technical/less pet-oriented subjects, like how metal behaves under certain circumstances or what house sparrows do to mate. But really, because of the reliance on Google Fu, I don’t exactly have a list of resources beyond those two (and, well, Bulbapedia) that I go to more often than others, but I can tell you the following sites are pretty reliable:

Finally (for research, anyway), some of the entries in #our-world are just straight-up headcanon, haha. But even then, I like to do a little research on the areas of the world regions are based on, just to add a little more depth. (Idk, I just like overthinking stuff like that.) Google Maps is a neat way to figure out what certain areas of the world look like, which is great for helping you develop the culture of a region, and for pretty much anything else, look for blogs about living in _____. A lot of people love talking about what it’s like to live in their home countries/countries they’ve immigrated to!

As for coming up with the blog in general, it helps if you have a good grasp on the character you’re portraying. In this blog’s case, I’ve been writing about Bill and Lanette for long enough to know what their senses of humor are like, how they’d respond to questions, and how they’d respond to each other. However, while it helps to have spent years with a character or two, the truth is you don’t have to write a character for years to figure out what they’re like. If you’re starting off with a brand-new OC, my biggest tip is to take notes. Start off with a basic idea of who they are and what their personality is like, and every time you come up with something new, add to your notes so you can remember it for later. Writing it down also encourages you to keep doing that, so eventually, you end up with a fully-fledged character in no time. That’s definitely going to be vital to get a good voice going for your entries, which itself is incredibly important if you’re going to do a lot of them. (You’ll be less likely to be bored and wander away if you love working with your characters, after all!)

Not sure if this covered everything, but if I’ve left anything out or if you (or anyone else) still needs help, please don’t hesitate to send an ask!

Otherwise, good luck, anon! Can’t wait to see how your blog turns out!}

Hey Bill! I was wondering about Greninja’s alternate form where it takes on it’s trainer’s looks and if there have been other pokemon in the past that have done the same thing that isn’t mega evolution, primal reversion or ultra burst.

On a temporary basis? No, which is why that particular greninja (and its trainer, for that matter) are of great interest to the pokémonology community. The two of them may represent the birth of a revolutionary way to utilize the bond between trainer and pokémon, and that in turn may change the way we view our relationships with our partners.

On a permanent basis, however, some pokémon do start to resemble their trainers (or vice versa) over time, but this is a superficial change that naturally happens when two friends spend enough time with one another. This most notably happens with eevee, not only because it happens quickly (within a few months of being with a new trainer) but also because the phenomenon is tied to its ability to adapt on a genetic level to its environment.

…and before anyone says anything concerning my bias towards eevee, I assure you I just find them cute and scientifically interesting. I’m not that narcissistic, I swear.

Hiya Mr. Bill! I was wondering, are Pokemon with the ability Poison Heal actually disturbed by being poisoned? My dear Breloom, Toadstool, seems really uncomfortable whenever he gets poisoned in battle, even with his Poison Heal. He’ll scratch at his tufts, and shake his head back and forth so much, it’s like he Confused. I cure him as soon as I can, of course, but I’d like to know whether or not I should be more cautious. Thank you for your time!

This is an excellent question because not a lot of humans realize this, but … unfortunately yes. Putting it another way, imagine what it’s like taking medication. The medicine might help you feel better, but the act of taking it might not be pleasant. Poison Heal works in the same way. To a pokémon that has it, being poisoned won’t exactly hurt or be excessively uncomfortable, but it’s uncomfortable nonetheless. It wouldn’t hurt to avoid a poisoning whenever possible, but if it’s unavoidable, rest assured that it’s nothing a pecha berry, an apology, and a brief massage won’t cure.

Why do inkay need to be upside-down to evolve? (Also, are Mallomar cookies named after the pokemon, or was that a coincidence?)

These are both excellent questions, anonymous. With the first, it simply orients the inkay into the best position to become malamar, as their “caps” are more stable to serve as feet and support their weight. (Malamar lose their ability to float in the air for extended periods of time upon evolution, largely because they devote their telekinetic power to, well, battling instead.) That and their tentacles become unwieldy in inkay’s “right-side-up” position, but turning around allows them to develop into arms. Because of all this, if the inkay evolves without turning, the malamar will essentially develop into a giant inkay unsuited for land, so inkay in general are particularly careful to orient themselves in the best manner to ensure maximum mobility.

As for Mallomars, no, that’s definitely a coincidence. However, Pockychu is a different story.

[[Bill, Pockychu doesn’t even exist… —LH]]

How come most stylists only offer nine styles for furfrou? Where did these styles come from, and how come nobody seems to offer anything else?

Tradition, mostly. Or trends. Fashion is an odd thing, but essentially, those styles are either the ones most in vogue at the moment or classic ones that have been determined to be the best-looking on furfrou for generations, much like how the pixie cut has been in and out of fashion for humans, but the bob is ever-present … and shaggy and wavy is perhaps the most attractive of all.

[[Keep telling yourself that, Bill. —LH]]

Do braixen get their sticks when they evolve, or find them separately? Are they part of the body?

You may be pleased to know that braixen get their sticks after evolution and that these aren’t parts of their bodies. I say you may be pleased because giving a newly evolved braixen a good stick is an excellent way to gain their approval and strengthen the bond between the two of you. (Wild ones may find sticks on their own or receive them from fellow braixen or delphox.) Of course, it also may be a bit of a hassle because may Ho-oh have mercy on you if that stick is broken or misplaced, but nonetheless, it’s a great bonding tool.