I have kind of a problem I’d like some help with. I’m training a cute a male Snorunt. After seeing my aunt’s Froslass, he really took a shine to her, so now he wants to be one too. My aunt mistook him for a female, and told him he could evolve into a Froslass too. She bought him a Dawn stone, but nothing happened. Now he refuses to let go of the stone. He doesn’t move or eat… he just sits and occasionally starts to cry, as he holds the stone.. What do I do? This has been going on for days.

Have your aunt’s froslass comfort him if you can.

I know this seems counterintuitive, but your snorunt may be more willing to listen to her, and she, as a member of the snorunt line, may be in a better position to understand his emotional needs. Also, giving your snorunt a mentor will provide him with not only a means of uncovering his potential as a (perhaps) future glalie but also give him some life guidance in general.

If it’s not possible to get your aunt’s froslass to mentor him, finding any similar pokémon (preferably an ice-type) will work too.

Finally, if he still needs some comfort, even after these pokémon offer, many outlets sell snorunt-sized froslass costumes this time of year (or you could make your own). It’s worth a shot.

Best of luck!

How do gender based evolutions work? (Specifically Gallade, Froslass, and Salazzle, Vespiquen is kinda obvious)

Well, Gallade and Froslass’s evolutions are determined by genetics, as noted here: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/149893951891/a-recent-ask-about-gallade-got-me-wondering-why

Salazzle is a bit more complicated, and it’s actually far more interesting. You see, one of the hallmarks of a salazzle is her ability to attract and enrapture male salandit. She does this through the release of powerful pheromones, which are emitted through scent glands located under her tail and on the red markings in her chest.

The reason why I bring this up is not because these scent glands are directly responsible for a female salandit’s ability to evolve. Rather, they’re directly responsible for the males’ inability to do so. To put it in short, these scent glands are present in female salandit as well, and although they are far from as powerful as a salazzle’s collection of glands, they still do the job just as effectively. Between salazzle and female salandit, male salandit often find themselves at the beck and call of half their species for the majority of their waking lives. They’re compelled to expend much of their energy building nests for and protecting females (as well as their eggs), and much of the food gathered by a reverse harem of male salandit (that is, incidentally, the actual, scientific term for it) is given to nesting females. Consequently, male salandit often lack the energy to evolve, if they’re not simply too underdeveloped from malnutrition to do it.

Of course, one might ask if it’s remotely possible for a rebellious male salandit to achieve evolution, but I’m afraid there are two issues with that. First, while it’s true that there might still be outliers, it’s widely believed that the salandit species has gone on this way for so long that male salandit actually lack the ability to evolve on a genetic level—as in, they lost their ability to evolve via adaptation. Second, even if they hadn’t, a female salandit’s pheromones are much too powerful for a male to resist. And to those of you who question how one can be virtually incapable of dodging a request from someone with whom you’re thoroughly in love … try rebelling against your significant other when they ask you to put the wet laundry in the dryer. See how well that goes for you.

Bill, can you really make that kind of claim when you haven’t dated anyone in years? —LH

Of course I can. By the way, your shirts have about ten minutes to go, and you’re welcome. —Bill

…this is one of those times when I try to be clever and realize all too late that it went horribly wrong, isn’t it? —Bill

The Snorunt Line

bills-pokedex:

Snorunt
The Snow Hat Pokémon
Type: Ice
Official Registration #: 361
Entry: Despite the fact that this childlike pokémon is much more comfortable in regions with heavy snow, it was curiously first discovered in the Hoenn region, specifically in the lower chambers of Shoal Cave. Given the general warmth of the seawater in that region, the presence of snorunt—and, in fact, the frigid environment of the cavern it lives in—has baffled researchers since its initial discovery. However, the author would also like to remind the research community that this is the same region whose legendary pantheon includes a giant sentient block of never-melt ice, so honestly, the fact that there is a chamber that has been iced over and sealed off from the outside world for centuries should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

Glalie
The Face Pokémon
Type: Ice
Official Registration #: 362
Entry: The evolved form of snorunt, by battle experience. Through the process of evolution, a snorunt gains a shell of rock, which in turn collects a thick hide of ice thanks to the instantaneous freezing of the moisture in the air immediately surrounding it. The resulting pokémon is a creature that not only has the ability to instantly freeze anything surrounding it but also appears to be a giant, floating, disembodied head. Yet despite its intimidating powers and appearance, it’s actually quite gentle, largely because it retains the shyness of its pre-evolved form. Despite this, it is still not recommended to come into physical contact with a glalie, largely because—thanks to its ability to instantaneously freeze anything within immediate vicinity of it—skin-to-shell contact has the same effect as licking a metal pole in the dead of winter (not that the author has done either).

Froslass
The Snow Land Pokémon
Type: Ice/Ghost
Official Registration #: 478
Entry: The evolved form of female snorunt, by exposure to dawn stone. Sinnohan legends warn about froslass. According to regional folklore, travelers lost on snowy mountains may encounter what appears to be a beautiful woman beckoning to them. If one goes to this woman, they will quickly find a wild froslass instead, who will immediately freeze them and drag them to her lair. Whether or not this is true is still a matter of debate, but it is known that tamed froslass do have a habit of staring at their trainers oddly and growing unsettlingly quiet whenever it snows. The author reassures his readers, however, that there have been no cases of a tamed froslass kidnapping their trainers and stealing them away to frozen wastelands … that he knows of, anyway.

Stop scaring the readers. You know that only happened six times in recorded history. —LH

Mega Glalie
The Face Pokémon
Type: Ice
Official Registration #: 362+
Entry: The advanced form of glalie, via glalitite. The most common question the author has ever gotten concerning this mega evolution is whether or not it’s ethical to use, considering the fact that the mere act of mega evolving does actual, bodily harm to the pokémon. While the author has no adequate answer on the subject (as it’s a bit of an internal debate among pokémon researchers), if it makes readers feel any better, when the subject is a giant, sentient ball of ice that barely possesses a nervous system of any sort undergoing a temporary physical change that completely restores a pokémon’s form upon wearing off as if nothing had ever happened, bodily harm tends to be somewhat irrelevant. Also, seeing as glalie seem to enjoy it for reasons that are not entirely beyond comprehension if you have any experience with certain parts of the internet, it is perhaps best not to think about this question at all.

The Snorunt Line

Snorunt
The Snow Hat Pokémon
Type: Ice
Official Registration #: 361
Entry: Despite the fact that this childlike pokémon is much more comfortable in regions with heavy snow, it was curiously first discovered in the Hoenn region, specifically in the lower chambers of Shoal Cave. Given the general warmth of the seawater in that region, the presence of snorunt—and, in fact, the frigid environment of the cavern it lives in—has baffled researchers since its initial discovery. However, the author would also like to remind the research community that this is the same region whose legendary pantheon includes a giant sentient block of never-melt ice, so honestly, the fact that there is a chamber that has been iced over and sealed off from the outside world for centuries should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

Glalie
The Face Pokémon
Type: Ice
Official Registration #: 362
Entry: The evolved form of snorunt, by battle experience. Through the process of evolution, a snorunt gains a shell of rock, which in turn collects a thick hide of ice thanks to the instantaneous freezing of the moisture in the air immediately surrounding it. The resulting pokémon is a creature that not only has the ability to instantly freeze anything surrounding it but also appears to be a giant, floating, disembodied head. Yet despite its intimidating powers and appearance, it’s actually quite gentle, largely because it retains the shyness of its pre-evolved form. Despite this, it is still not recommended to come into physical contact with a glalie, largely because—thanks to its ability to instantaneously freeze anything within immediate vicinity of it—skin-to-shell contact has the same effect as licking a metal pole in the dead of winter (not that the author has done either).

Froslass
The Snow Land Pokémon
Type: Ice/Ghost
Official Registration #: 478
Entry: The evolved form of female snorunt, by exposure to dawn stone. Sinnohan legends warn about froslass. According to regional folklore, travelers lost on snowy mountains may encounter what appears to be a beautiful woman beckoning to them. If one goes to this woman, they will quickly find a wild froslass instead, who will immediately freeze them and drag them to her lair. Whether or not this is true is still a matter of debate, but it is known that tamed froslass do have a habit of staring at their trainers oddly and growing unsettlingly quiet whenever it snows. The author reassures his readers, however, that there have been no cases of a tamed froslass kidnapping their trainers and stealing them away to frozen wastelands … that he knows of, anyway.

Stop scaring the readers. You know that only happened six times in recorded history. —LH

A recent ask about Gallade got me wondering. Why can only male Kirlia evolve into it but Gardevoir can be either gender? Thinking about it, the same happens with Snorunt’s evolutions. Is it a coincidence that they both can evolve with a Dawn Stone?

The fact that they both evolve via exposure to dawn stone is one theory behind it, yes. Dawn stone affects those with abilities that are either waiting to be unlocked completely or that may be boosted through an alternate evolution. Gallade, for example, is the final evolution of a line that’s best known for their fierce loyalty to their trainers and their collective dedication to protecting the ones they love, and as such, gallade is the embodiment of that idea. Froslass, conversely, are wraith-like creatures made of ice and snow, known for their human-like appearances—very much the extension of their childlike preevolution, snorunt. They are the alternate evolution of creatures made of rock and ice, yet they’re hollow by contrast, which is to say froslass is what glalie could be if glalie didn’t seal itself up in armor. So in other words, whereas gallade represents the enhancement of what it means to be a member of the ralts family, froslass represents what snorunt has become underneath the hardened ice-and-rock body of glalie.

That having been said, back to your original question, as I’ve implied above, there are a couple of reasons for why only male kirlia and female snorunt are affected by this stone. The first theory is that only male kirlia and female snorunt may reach the potential outlined above. That is, only male kirlia can experience the need to protect others so strongly that being a gallade is an option for them, and only female snorunt may experience the need to be free so strongly that being a froslass is an option for them.

However, the other theory is a lot simpler: that for these lines, part of the evolutionary requirements are coded by the sex chromosomes. Think of it like binary, where 1 is on and 0 is off. For the snorunt line, this concept is straightforward. If snorunt have two X chromosomes—or two 1s—then that means their ability to evolve by dawn stone is “on,” as they receive two “on” signals. Male snorunt, meanwhile, have one “on” signal and one “off” signal, rendering them incapable of evolving because the requirement for their species is that both switches must be flipped to “on.” Conversely, it’s the reverse for the ralts line. Whereas the question being answered with the snorunt line is “can this pokémon evolve,” the question being answered with the ralts line is “will this pokémon not be affected by this.” Thus, a 1 with the ralts line means part of their resistance to dawn stone is active, but it’s not complete. Two 1s in a row, meanwhile, means that the resistance is complete and active. Hence, females, even those who are willing to evolve by dawn stone, cannot because their bodies dictate that they can’t be affected by it, whereas their male counterparts don’t have that same defense.