Why aren’t pokéballs reusable? Why, when I miss, do the balls break? Why can’t I just go pick them up again? This sort of planned obsolescence is ridiculous.

Actually, poké balls are quite frequently reusable. It’s just that a number of things may happen in the heat of a battle that render attempts to pick up and try again with the same ball extremely difficult:

1. A trainer may throw the ball too hard and accidentally break it. This occurs more with rock- or steel-type pokémon, or in instances wherein the ball straight-out misses.

2. If by “miss” we mean “fail,” then a pokémon may break the mechanism that generates the capture grid upon breaking free of the ball. (This is the most common reason poké balls are rendered unusable after a capture attempt.)

3. The ball misses and rolls away, to a position that’s not easily accessible by a trainer.

4. The pokémon attacks the ball (after it misses), thus breaking it before continuing to attack you.

5. The ball misses and rolls away, and before a trainer can go after it, the wild pokémon prevents them from doing so, which then causes the trainer to lose track of the ball.

6. The above occurs, but the wild pokémon attempts to flee instead of attack. Depending on the rarity of the pokémon, a trainer may simply forget about their discarded balls in order to go after their attempted catch.

Luckily, in any of these cases, poké balls are rather cheap. This not only means it’s easy to replace them, but … in a way, it’s also an explanation. Common poké balls are made of flimsier material, and thus, it’s not really all that surprising that the most common ways they’re rendered unusable is if they accidentally break due to a pokémon’s efforts or simply by throwing them too hard at a solid surface. The more powerful or expensive a poké ball is (that is, if we’re considering great, ultra, or master balls), the better the materials, of course, but aside from master balls (which are made of the most durable materials but have a nearly flawless capture rate), there’s still the chance that these poké balls’ mechanisms will still fail due to one of the above factors.

The Vespiqueen post interested me, how on earth do pokeballs differentiate between pokemon? Between members of the same species?

DNA locks, actually. When a poké ball activates on a pokémon for the first time, it scans its capture in order to take careful notes about what it’s containing. This—combined with a pokémon’s decision to either stay or break free, of course—is why there’s a window of time between the ball drawing in a pokémon and the capture being confirmed, wherein the ball could, well, break. It’s simply taking the time to scan and record the genetic code of the pokémon it’s meant to contain.

This all is relevant because even if you have two members of the same species, there are subtle differences in the genetic code of one individual compared to the next. After all, you might not be like any other human in the world, and so, too, each pokémon is different and individual from the rest of its species.

Vespiquen is an interesting case because it forms a symbiotic relationship with another living being. (Actually, slowbro/king and mantine are very similar in nature—it’s just that they share existences with other pokémon, rather than animals.) In her case, though, the point still stands. It’s just that the poké ball scans and records all beings drawn in, rather than just one.

Of course, it gets a little more complicated with evolution, particularly ones that involve multiple members of the same species to achieve (magneton and metang, for a couple of examples). In these cases, though, so long as a considerable amount of the subject’s DNA is present and so long as the subject’s species matches the pokédex database in terms of pokémon that incorporate others into their evolutions, the poké ball will still recognize the pokémon it belongs to. It would then modify its internal code in order to adjust.

Truth be told, modern poké balls seem like they’re simple devices, but they’re actually highly complex and fascinating machines. Of course, I also say that this is all true for modern poké balls. Antique poké balls, particularly of the apricorn variety, are a bit more mysterious, and the art of creating them is a carefully guarded secret.

Does kangakhans baby need a separate pokeball?

No. As strange and uncomfortable as it may seem, think of a baby kangaskhan as a living hold item. Because of how close (physically speaking) a baby kangaskhan is to its mother and because of the near genetic match, a poké ball is capable of storing both mother and child in the same poké ball at the same time.

And before anyone asks, no, this does not result in the fusion of the two, nor does transporting this poké ball. Fusion occurs due to entirely different circumstances, none of which I will happily talk about on a public blog, regardless of what certain individuals may have you believe.