Disabilities

[Meep]

While thinking of disadvantages for characters, I came upon an interesting idea - pokemon with disabilities. Not just the ordinary broken leg/arm/tail/some other body part, but as in phobias. Or even allergies (imagine... a lactose-intolerant Miltank).

Would phobias and/or allergies be good disadvantages for characters?

 

[xXSaberXx]

D: Well, it, for one, would make them more realistic. :O Yah. A Lactose intolerant Miltank IS kinda ironic though! Maybe like, a pyrophobiac Dustox or something? xP That would totally give them more character, maybe give them the chance to overcome it and make them all out crazy!

Crazy pokemon/characters=good.

 

[Dilasc]

I was thinking of a mentally retarded Alakazam who's favorite passtime is to bash its spoons together and enjoy the clanking noise it produces.

As for whether such traits are good are not, I am not sure. It matters how its pulled off to be honest. If the character is still perfect at fighting and never loses for its trainer, then the disability cannot hide the identity of the Susan that the trainer and her Pokemon truly are.

 

[The Big Al]

Well, I wrote about a deaf trainer who used mirrors and sign language to communicate with his Pokemon in battle. Granted he was a minor character but it's something we haven't seen in Pokemon.

 

[Dilasc]

Ooh, I can't believe I forgot to mention my idea of a Gym Leader who has no voice box, so he communicates to his Pokemon with sign language, vibration, and interpretive dance.

All in all, it doesn't make him weak, but he does need a translator to tell people what he intends to say. On the other hand, it makes him a very difficult battle because his moves are'nt easy to predict for the average trainer. The backstory behind his muteness is a secret until later though.

 

[Ledian_X]

Having a disabled character adds more character depth. Take a look at Daredevil. The guys senses are all heightened except for sight. He's blind but makes up for it with his "radar sense". Your idea seems good because it diversiffies the character and could make it relatable to some people despite it being a pokemon.

A disabled main character isn't a new idea since Daredevil is blind. But, it does add sympathy, respect and sdeepens the character if they have a "disability".

LX

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

It all depends how it's handled, I think.

 

[FlamingRuby]

Wonder how a trainer with an adaptive device (i.e. a wheelchair), could be handled?

 

[Meep]

Wonder how a trainer with an adaptive device (i.e. a wheelchair), could be handled?

That would be interesting, although I don't think they would go out on a 'Got to catch them all' quest due to the fact that wheelchairs aren't good in forests. But that kind of thing could easily lead to a Mary Sue where the wheelchair-bound person is either a person who tries to get others to feel sorry for them, or is a person who are all like "All because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I'm not tough!" (which makes me think of wheelchair gangs, stalking the streets... wierd) and they use one-hit KOs on opponets...

 

[Kiyohime]

xDDD That's ironic, because the next fanfiction I'm planning, I was going to create a blind Kabutops and a mute Exploud. ^^ When you put restricitons on a character, it makes them far more fun and interesting to read and write about.

 

[Wandering Rhythmical Phoenix]

One of my chareters faints during even minorly stressful situation, but most of the time its after. And I'm going to have 2 of them loose there memories after a huge battle

 

[BirthdayPirate]

Giving Pokemon disabilities can add a lot of depth to the story. The autistic character of Kid, from my fic, was originally a Squirtle in an entirely different fic, so I suppose I've written disabled Pokemon before. Just be sure you don't cross the line from realistic to corny. An Umbreon afraid of fire can be pulled off as realistic, but an Umbreon afraid of the dark will just come off looking like a joke.

 

[PDL]

I find disabilities to be sort of interesting because the author has more to write about the character.

In order to be realistic however, they do need to know a bit about the disability of their character. Blindness is pretty easy to write about, but Autism is a little more difficult to write about unless you know a bit about it's limitations. Research is very useful. Then again, research helps in nearly everything you need to write about.

the only fic I completely finished was about a Torchic who knew how to speak the human language, but unable to preform any attacks. She was also afraid of heights.

and in another fic that I haven't finished. It stars a trainer who had her arms either amputated or born without them (I haven't really decided)

 

[Elemental Charizam]

A dissability in its self doesn't add depth. Just a little tag saying 'disabled' adds nothing, just like it doesn't really matter if somebody is a blonde or brunette. How the character reacts to the dissability, and how its written, can add depth.

Some peoples eem to go overboard with things such as disabilities; physical attributes aren't needed to be unique, nor are totally zany personalities. Unless there's a valid reason, why would a trainer have loads of disabled pokémon with them anyway? Unless you have an extremely gruesome image of battling, surely more than one disabled pokemon would be rare, just like two shinies?

 

[Nylf]

Already done, am doing and will keep using. May I introduce Nylf Schwarz Draconis I and Rito, the Flygon/Rayquaza and Tropius belonging to Drake Dragonheart of Emerald Lands. Nylf is literally petrified/traumitised by ice. He 'freezes' up when he sees ice attcks, no pun intended. And Rito is afraid of the water. Not water attacks, but bodies of water, like pools, the sea and lakes whatever. Even ponds make him nervous. So, in an amazing twist, when Drake fights a water specific trainer, he can't use his best pokemon Nylf, for risk of ice attacks, and Rito who would have a huge advantage as it's at the league on the water field. And did I mention his opponent's his...NO SPOILERS!

Now EC would want justification. Nylf's Drake's starter, and when Drake was about ten, Team Aqua tried to enter Regirock's tomb, and Nylf's 'mom' was the guardian of Regirock's tomb, so she tried to stop them. Team Aqua sent out two Glalies, froze her in a block of ice, and then dumped her in the sea, where she eventually died of hypothermia. Nylf saw them do the deed of freezing her, then saw her dead body on the news. Therefore he is traumitised. And yes Nylf's shiny before you ask. So it's sue-ish that I have a traumitised Shiny as a starter. Nylf ain't no sue.

And Rito was flying along, when something attacked him and one of his wings/leaves was broken, and he fell into the river below, and being a Tropius he couldn't swim, and so he would have drowned if Drake hadn't been fishing nearby, and caught the Tropius. Drake then raised him back to health and caught the Tropius. And no this Tropius ain't shiny.

 

[MachopGirl]

What about Pokémon being raised by another that was not its own kind? Confused? For instance, I've written a fic where a Machop was being raised by a Salamence since her birth. Because she was living among the dragons, she thinks she is one of them. Trying to raise her in a clan of Machokes could be difficult because she is more used to being a Bagon than a Machop.

 

[Faerie]

I don't write stories with Pokemon very often. Well, Some of my stories do include Pokemon, but they're never very important to the story, except for Untamed Serenity, but that's a one-shot...If they were more important to the story, then I would definetley give them unique traits, but if they just appeared in one chapter, then probably not.

As for the idea of having disabled characters in general, I have no problem with that. It makes the characters more realistic as well as the story, as long as it isn't used excessively. Fr'instance, some of you may know Hokage from Pokemon Special? In my stories he's blind in his right eye, thus making it difficult to aim from distances. Meh. [/end mindless chatter]

Eh...You don't know Hokage? His Serebii bio is here, although they call him Hank.

 

[GoGoTenda]

Disabled characters, hm? I can't think of any true disabilities of my characters...though I do have a Smeargle that's absolutely terrified of another character (a Mightyena who isn't threatening at all). As a sort of disability, there's a Ditto that, 90% of the time, botches transformations somehow. Reversed colors, incorrect patterns, and the like. There aren't any characters of mine with real disabilities; I prefer personality problems and general dysfuncionality (is that a word?).