I’m a hoennian and i’m soon going on a trip to Unova. Is there anything I should know about unovan culture and costume?

Certainly!

The first thing you should do when you get to Unova is go to the nearest travel kiosk, exchange your money, and then book a ticket to Alola and go there instead.

LH: My apologies, anonymous. Bill is kidding. Unova is a nice place, and we both thoroughly enjoy our time there when we go.

Even though certain Unovans have threatened repeatedly to throw tea into my pond while flying the Unovan flag… —Bill

LH: Ignoring that, it’s important to keep in mind that Unova is a bustling, crowded place with a high volume of tourists per year. At first glance, it may seem that Unovans are rude and cold, but many of them are simply tough and proud of their region. So while it’s difficult to ask for directions, if you seem like you’re from Unova or interested in the locals’ perspective of it, then you’ll be treated less like a tourist and more like a friend. In truth, once you get to know them, Unovans are some of the most passionate, friendly people you can meet.

Of course, the passion might seem a little intimidating as well. Unovans are not at all afraid to speak their minds, so if something is bothering them, they’ll let you know. On the other hand, if they’re excited about something, they’re very open about it, and that excitement can get rather infectious. They’re also a highly competitive bunch, so if you’re a trainer, be prepared to battle a lot. They won’t go easy on you in that region, which is why so many tourists flock there. Nowhere else has a league of gym leaders or a community of trainers who battle as hard as Unova’s do, and pushing each other to be the very best is a regional past time. So in short, be prepared.

As for costume, Unova is famous for its fashion and second only to Kalos in terms of trendiness. However, while Kalos boasts European taste and old-fashioned elegance, style in Unova is far more modern. Thus, Unova styles change yearly, and it’s best to do as the Romans do, so to speak. But unlike Kalos, which goes for muted colors, pastels, and stately bolds, Unova is always brightly colored, sometimes with a tastefully distressed pair of jeans. The last time I was there, though, I recall that the latest trends leaned towards hipster chic: a lot of flannel, high-waisted jeans, scarves, hats, sweaters, and old-style glasses. It may have been the only time I’ve felt trendier than my sister, come to think of it.

In terms of culture as in art or philosophy, Unova is again only second to Kalos in terms of that (regardless of what my partner has to say about how much culture his home region boasts). For example, Nacrene City is an entire city full of nothing but artists, and you can find blocks upon blocks of art galleries full of both modern and classical art, and its natural and cultural history museum is not to be missed, either. If you’re more interested in either music or film, Virbank City is home to Pokéstar Studios, as well as a lively underground rock scene thanks to its gym leader, Roxie. Of course, every other city has its own charm or fascinating point of interest as well. Unova is, in other words, a place that has a little something for everyone.

On behalf of Bill and myself, we hope you enjoy the Unova region! It’s not half as bad as Bill ever makes it out to be. He’s just a little too proud of his own region.

Why are dragons weak to ice?

For the same reason why many of the dinosaurs were killed off in the last major Ice Age, anonymous. Although modern-day dragons have adapted to withstand colder climates, they are still not fully adapted to withstand abrupt drops in temperature. Many dragons do not possess an insulating layer of fat, fur, or armor the way many other species of pokémon do, so they’re far more susceptible to things like hypothermia. It doesn’t help that many of the more famous dragon-types are also partially flying-types, which itself has a weakness to ice due to the fragility of their wings. (Freeze a flying-type’s wings, and you effectively disable them.) Seeing as the wings are of an additional importance to dragons due to their integral role in thermal regulation, this makes dragon/flying-types such as dragonite even more susceptible to lower temperatures.

In other words, dragons are weak to ice because they’re not well-adapted to colder temperatures. They are, however, well-adapted to succumbing to hypothermia.

Happy bisexual visibility day! For this day (or whenever you answer this) could you talk about some pokemon that mate with any gender?

And to you, @evetype, as well as to all of our bisexual followers. Although it’s quite late in the day for us, we hope that everyone has spent this day well, whether it was by reflecting on your own identity or by connecting with others in the LGBT community (online or off). The editor and I know that it’s difficult for all of you in the rest of the year, but you’re here! You exist! You are valid! And may you see change for the better—more acceptance, for one—by the next Visibility Day.

That having been said, to answer your question, I’d like to begin by saying gender and sexuality are complicated topics among pokémon. Certainly, we scientists classify pokémon as male, female, or gender indiscernible (or unknown, if you’re a trainer—which itself is different from the human concept of being nonbinary), but the human definitions of what gender and sexuality mean don’t exactly apply to pokémon. We don’t, for example, know for certain if transgenderism is a concept to pokémon at all. I say all of this as a disclaimer, as the rest of this post will be describing pokémon in those three unfortunately rigid categories of gender, even though that is not what it means to be bisexual as a human. In other words, I apologize in advance for sounding rather dated when speaking about pokémon.

That having been said, bisexuality is actually hugely common. In fact, most species on this planet that can mate also exhibit some level of bisexuality or even homosexuality among its members. (Interesting case: The mareep line are famous for their males. Ten percent of all male mareep are attracted exclusively to other males, and somewhere around twenty-two percent of male mareep are considered to be bisexual.) Even gender-exclusive species such as jynx are largely bisexual and not, as once thought, homosexual; they simply show attraction towards not only fellow jynx but other compatible species. For example, when placed in a room with a jynx and a hitmonchan, the jynx is just as likely to select the hitmonchan to be her mate as she is the other jynx.

In truth, in a way, pokémon are far wiser than humans because to them, the subject of sexuality is not a taboo at all. I know I’ve said a moment ago that pokémon don’t see sexuality the way we humans do, but it’s very true. While all pokémon (that can breed) clearly have preferences, these preferences can sometimes be fluid, and even then, pokémon never see any point in hiding what they prefer at any given time. They simply are, and this state of fluidity is rather normal for them. All of this is only a fairly recent discovery to humans because we have the unfortunate tendency to stick to our preconceived notions of what identity means to us while dismissing any definition that deviates from these notions. And of course, it probably doesn’t help that we conflate breeding with mating, and thus, we forget that what a pokémon will do in the wild (where it’s free to choose a partner) is entirely different from what it will do in captivity (where its options are far more limited).

Hopefully, that answers your question sufficiently enough, dear reader … unless this was a request for an entry, at which point, I apologize deeply for that as well. I suppose the short of it is any pokémon would fit this description short of perhaps voltorb, staryu, magnemite, porygon, or their evolutions—which is to say you share this world with fantastically powerful beings who are, in a way, just like you, readers.

What would be a good pokemon to introduce to someone who is afraid of them? Not a Garchomp, I’d assume?

Definitely a garchomp. The best way to overcome fear is by exposure, yes?

Edit: According to my editor, I should be ashamed of myself, so allow me to give you an alternative answer.

There are two possible routes you can take. The first is by giving them a starter, preferably from your regional professor. Many starters handled by Professor Oak and his colleagues have been bred for the express purpose of being partnered with extremely new and young trainers. Many new trainers only know the very basics of pokémon care, so each starter needs to be not only resilient but also tranquil around humans, even those who are particularly excitable. So if your friend (or whoever) is panicking, a starter would be the least likely to react to that panic.

Some starters, particularly the bulbasaur line, also evolve into forms equipped with certain abilities that have calming effects on nearby humans. Bulbasaur in particular eventually becomes venusaur, which is known for its highly soothing scent. This will also help keep your friend calm as they interact with not only venusaur but also any other pokémon around them.

Alternatively, there are plenty of other pokémon that possess other calming abilities naturally or are otherwise bred to be as calm as a starter. Take the happiny line, for example. Chansey and blissey especially dedicate themselves to calming and comforting others, and many individuals handled by breeders have gone through at the very least extreme basic training in pokémon nursing. That is to say, any chansey and blissey you obtain from a breeder has likely been trained to handle nervous or scared pokémon and humans, and thus, they’re highly empathetic and knowledgable about how to handle a human who might just be terrified of them. Bred audino in Unova receive similar treatment, as do jigglypuff and wigglytuff in Kalos. The togepi line also has a natural inclination to make others happy as well as an in-born sense of empathy, but some specimens may get a little too excited over the prospect of cheering another up.

Meanwhile, your other option is using a species that possesses other natural abilities that can calm a human being. Blissey, for example, lay eggs that can eliminate feelings of sadness and fear with just one bite. Alternatively, it can also use Heal Pulse, which while better known as a move that heals wounds, can also help a subject to relax. Other species that possess calming abilities include chimecho (who can emit sounds capable of calming even rampaging tyranitar), bellossom (who can emit soothing aromas), and gardevoir (highly empathic pokémon with the ability to project calming psychic waves).

The point is, anonymous, get a pokémon that’s been trained (or bred) to deal with nervous humans or a pokémon who can help a human enter a calm state of mind. Either of these kinds of pokémon are perhaps the least threatening ones in existence, so they would make excellent introductions for someone who would like to be exposed to pokémon but also suffers from poképhobia. Ideally, though, you’ll want a pokémon who can be both soothing and capable at dealing with humans, which means that out of all of the above mentioned creatures, chansey or blissey may be your best options.

Good luck, anonymous.

It’s my younger brother’s birthday next month and I’m thinking about talking to a breeder to get him his first pokemon. I know pokemon given by the professor are good beginner pokemon, but he likes Ice types so I wanted to get him something special. What options for Ice type pokemon would be a good choice? (He will be turning 9)

Typically, researchers recommend starters who have the capability of evolving because the childlike base form is often easier to deal with or master. In the case of the ice type, this is largely relevant for lapras (difficult for a beginner to train, especially in a landlocked environment), cryogonal (notorious for being highly dangerous and difficult to train), and delibird (notorious for being incapable of learning anything other than Present), but a number of others are viable options. Thus, it’s more of a question of what’s available to you at the time, as a number of ice-types are highly rare in certain regions.

If you have the option to choose any pokémon, however, snorunt tends to be the easiest to train, as its humanoid traits make it the most agreeable to people. It’s also a highly social pokémon in that it’s prone to congregate in groups in the wild. In captivity, that often means it sticks as close to its trainer as possible and fares far better in more urban environments, where it’s surrounded by noise and people. (Trained snorunt see humans who are friendly to their trainer as extensions of their surrogate clan.) Of course, finding snorunt in the first place tends to be a bit more difficult, as snorunt are native to deep, icy cave systems and are not popularly bred pokémon. (There are, of course, snorunt breeders in the world, but they’re fewer in numbers than any other breeder.)

Smoochum is likewise highly sociable, and smoochum adapt to warmer temperatures a little easier than snorunt do. However, they’re also rarer and more difficult to obtain, and the only reliable means of doing so would be to contact breeders in regions where smoochum and jynx are native wildlife (namely Johto, Sinnoh, Kalos, and the northernmost territories of Canada).

You could also try snover, which is also rather friendly to humans and nearly sapient at that. Its evolution, abomasnow, is also a lot quieter and more docile than jynx, froslass, or glalie. (Especially glalie.) It also has the ability to photosynthesize, making it easier for extreme beginning trainers to handle. On the other hand, snover and abomasnow prefer quiet areas, so it’s not a particularly good choice for trainers in highly urban regions such as Unova, Johto, or Kalos. That and with its dual weakness to fire, it may be a particularly challenging option for any region with native fire-type pokémon or resident fire-type gym leaders or Elite Four members. (Again, that would be Unova and Kalos.)

If your brother would prefer something a little less humanoid, spheal is both docile and fairly easy to train, and its water typing makes it an ideal choice for those who wish to counter ice’s weakness to fire. It also evolves into a pokémon with fantastic defensive capabilities, which means it’s one of the least frustrating choices for a young trainer. The downside is that as a partial water-type, your brother will need to understand how to keep a spheal hydrated, not to mention spheal’s evolutions are not particularly mobile on land. (Spheal is, however, as it can roll rather quickly.)

Alternatively, swinub’s ground-typing can achieve the same results as spheal’s water-based abilities, and it can travel on land. Likewise, it has the ability to hunt for edibles in any given environment, making it highly useful outside of battle as well. Of course, getting it to stop eating anything and everything it finds and leaving nothing left over for their trainers is an entirely different matter, and a trainer should keep in mind that although swinub is fairly easy to teach, when it smells food, it may ignore everything its trainer says unless it happens to be very well trained.

The others may be a touch too rare or too difficult to train. Vanillite, for example, are only really popular in its native Unova, and as such, there are no breeders for vanillite outside of that region. Likewise, while vulpix and sandshrew can be ice-types, the only way to obtain them are via breeders or trainers from Alola, which can get rather costly. Conversely, cubchoo is easy to train and easier to obtain than vanillite, sandshrew, or vulpix (as their cute looks make them highly wanted pets), but after evolution, cubchoo becomes the fierce and highly carnivorous beartic, which may perhaps be a bit more difficult for a nine-year-old to handle. Amaura is extremely difficult to obtain (in that it may only be resurrected from fossils), bergmite is just as dangerous as cryogonal, and sneasel, while not particularly dangerous when tamed, is prone to highly rebellious behavior when not paired with an experienced trainer.

Of course, if we wish to go over every option, there are also pokémon that evolve into ice-types, but it should be warned that quite a few of these are not particularly mobile. For example, seel and shellder evolve into dewgong and cloyster, respectively, but neither of them travel well on land.

However, you also have eevee, which under certain circumstances can evolve into the ice-type glaceon, and in comparison with the other aforementioned pokémon, there are absolutely no disadvantages to training an eevee, and in fact, your brother may wish to start with that, now that I think about it.

Bill, eevee can only evolve into glaceon when it comes in contact with very specific boulders, all of which are located in extremely treacherous spots in only three regions on the planet. —LH

You’re right. Anonymous, give your brother one of the above and an eevee. — Bill

When untamed, which pokemon type would you consider the most dangerous to humans? Poison-types because of their toxicity? Dragon-types because of their ferocity? Or, if it ultimately comes down to certain species, which species do you consider the most “dangerous”?

Honestly, quite literally every pokémon is capable of being dangerous. All of them are capable of wielding forces of nature humans only dream of coming close to harnessing, and pokémon do it with the intent to battle against others. This is one of many, many reasons why we must respect all of them.

But! As that’s hardly a proper answer, I must say it’s difficult to decide. Perhaps the legendaries, as those are frequently the avatars of the strongest or most fundamental elements of nature themselves. How can you possibly defend yourself if the avatar of space decides to thrust you into a trans-dimensional rift that leads to the other end of the universe?

Out of the more terrestrial pokémon, though, I suppose the answer would indeed be poison-types … or, more specifically, the likes of grimer, muk, koffing—all the ones that possess abilities that can kill or corrode on contact. While we have antidotes that can handle the vast majority of poison-type abilities, the bodies of grimer and muk contain bacteria that, if worked into open wounds, could infect one with a whole slew of rather nasty incurable diseases, some of which are highly infectious if given the right vectors. Then you have koffing and weezing, whose gases suffocate, rather than poison, which is not something that you can treat unless you’re aware enough of it happening to get as far away as possible. Unfortunately, some of the gases expelled by koffing and weezing distribute themselves rather quickly, so the range of effect can be quite wide and inescapable. The gastly line operates on the same principle, actually, only with an additional soul-stealing element due to their ghost-type natures.

The other pokémon, while fearsome, are at least avoidable for the most part.

About pokemon that wear ‘clothes’ or hold something – Hitmonchan’s gloves, Hypno’s pendulum, Machamp’s pants, Throh/Sawk’s robes, etc – where do they get these, Are they actually part of the pokemon? I understand that Cubone can just pick up bones or Klefki can find keys but I don’t know, clothes seem a bit odd to me

It depends on the pokémon, really. Some of them find their signature items. For example, hypno hew their pendulum from local stones, then tie them to the end of insect silk, pokémon hair (including, in some cases, hair from their own ruff), or dry grasses. The threads and stones used tend to depend on the hypno: each one has their own individual preferences, which means this is an effective way to tell two otherwise identical hypno apart.

Sawk and throh, meanwhile, tend to get their clothes from leavanny, if they don’t simply make their outfits themselves. As incredibly humanoid pokémon, they actually integrate weaving and tailoring into their training and maturation. Where they picked up these skills is not entirely known, but local folklore in Kalos and Unova speak of a wandering trainer who passed this knowledge onto any pokémon who was willing to listen. Why, however, seems to be more of a zen riddle.

Other pokémon, however, actually do grow their “clothes.” Gardevoir is of particular note in this case: the part of its body that appears to be a flowing dress is actually just a few flaps of skin meant to regulate body temperature and channel heat away from its horn. Hitmonchan is similar; those are not boxing gloves but rather its actual hands.

As for machamp’s pants, while it does indeed find its own belt over time (the belt is a sign of accomplishment, and thus, machamp go about without one until they feel as if they deserve one—at which point they fashion it themselves using stones, grass, and leather), it … is not actually wearing pants. That’s merely a hardened shell of skin covering its reproductive and waste elimination areas.

As a lover of Dark type pokemon, I must ask: why is the Dark type called the “Evil type” in some cultures?

Cultural differences and beliefs, I’m afraid. Some cultures, either in their past or currently, fear dark-types for a number of reasons.

In some cases, people believed that these pokémon lurked in dark forests to attack humans … which, unfortunately, was somewhat true in olden times. Human settlements and roads were smaller and shorter in those days and did not encroach into wilderness as far as they do. So when travelers crossed through heavily wooded areas—places where pokémon such as houndour, poochyena, nuzleaf, and sneasel made their homes—these pokémon would attack them, thinking that they were prey. However, as time went on and as humans became more and more of a presence in the world, these pokémon gained exposure to humans (or learned about them from other members of their species) and came to realize that they weren’t to be attacked. Thus, wild houndour, poochyena, sneasel, nuzleaf, and similar pokémon are generally less likely to attack people than pokémon of any other type. Unless provoked, anyway.

(Cave pokémon, such as sableye, fall into this category as well, as humans have only recently figured out how to traverse cave systems safely.)

In other cases, people believed that these pokémon were omens or embodiments of death, usually because they would appear shortly before or after disaster. This is only true in a sense when it comes to absol. They can indeed predict disaster, and thus, their appearance should be an omen of impending doom. (And, in fact, they count on this, as they also realize humans don’t generally understand pokémon speak.) However, they don’t cause disaster, as many cultures seem to think. Meanwhile, pokémon like murkrow, vullaby, and zorua are all scavengers, and as such, they’re mistakenly thought to arrive before death, but in actuality, they arrive shortly after to feed on the fresh meat.

Finally, there are cases when the pokémon simply looks so fearsome and violent that it inspires abject fear in humans. Hydreigon is of particular note to this category.

As for why these pokémon specifically are considered to be evil when there are far more pokémon in other types who are associated with death or have attacked humans or are simply fearsome-looking, it’s just that the type contains the most pokémon who are associated with shadows. The elemental essence itself is based on darkness, and the techniques specific to the type often involve sneak attacks or vicious, bestial assaults. So humans have come to fear the dark-type in particular because of its associations with darkness.

If you ask me, though, anonymous, I quite agree with you: there is really nothing to fear from dark-type pokémon. Many of them are quite docile once properly tamed.

Are pokemon like Lampent ever used for patient monitoring? Or is that a really, really bad idea. (Unless one is in Unova)

Given the fact that many ghost-types feed on the human soul, they’re among the only pokémon that are very, very bad choices for service pokémon. This includes lampent, who—while not actively aggressive—is an opportunistic pokémon who will feed on a soul as it leaves the body. So on a technical level, lampent is harmless to people who are recovering or in need of day-to-day support, but it’s rather tactless to give them to the terminally ill or elderly.

For those wondering, the other types not particularly recommended for use as service pokémon are bug-types and poison-types. Of these, poison-types may be the most willing to act as service pokémon, but many of them will inadvertently sicken their humans, either because of the toxins in their body or, in the case of the grimer and trubbish lines, because they’re not very sanitary. Bug-types, meanwhile, typically couldn’t care less about the plight of humanity.

What’s your opinion on the Holon region? Also what is the league’s stance on use of delta species pokemon in league regulated fights?

I’ve never been to the Holon region myself, largely because they’ve never needed a storage system. After the incident that resulted in the “delta pokémon,” the place has been considered a sort of pokémon reserve to protect them—wherever human settlements aren’t, anyway.

The delta pokémon, meanwhile, are a fascinating subject. It’s launched plenty of scientific investigations and resulted in the reevaluation of the nature of types that is partially responsible for the fairy reclassification. To this day, the delta pokémon remain largely a mystery; no one knows for certain how the type changes happened or why. At least with the newly discovered Alola forms, that’s completely understandable due to environmental factors. The delta type shifts, meanwhile, just … happened.

Granted, yes, we know of the history that led up to that point—the search for Mew, that is, as well as the electromagnetic pulse that resulted in the change. It’s just that no one truly knows how an electromagnetic pulse triggered the mutation, especially given the fact that such pulses have never produced the same results outside of Holon. Some pokémon, such as the magnemite line, rely on high-powered electromagnetism to survive, so something doesn’t entirely add up about the whole situation. It doesn’t help that the Holon Research Tower has been inaccessible to the public and scientific communities, following investigations of possible unethical experimentation.

As for the use of delta pokémon in league fights, it’s actually illegal to remove pokémon from Holon at all unless for research purposes (due to the fact that, even over a decade later, the investigation into delta pokémon is still ongoing, and they’re by and large a finite resource), so it’s generally frowned upon to use them to battle, I’m afraid.