Things in the Pokémon world which just don't make sense (by pokémon standards)

[Xenomata]

Personally, I don't think that the gym leaders/elite four/trial captains/kahunas/some champions being type specialists has ever made sense.

I think we've all been in the situation where we've gone up to a gym leader and something like this happened:

Brock/Roxanne/Roark/Grant: I specialise in rock type pokemon because they're tough!

You: Cool. I chose Bulbasaur/Squirle/Treecko/Mudkip/Turtwig/Piplup/Chespin/Froakie.

2-3 Vine Whips/Absorbs/Bubbles/Water Guns later...

Brock/Roxanne/Roark/Grant: I don't understand how my pokemon could have lost, but here's your badge.

You: So after all that hype its over already?

I'm sure it's just the game being all "but you are the true strongest in the world", though it is shown in the anime (and I think sometimes the Manga) that type specialists have a myriad of ways to get around their pokemons weaknesses. They still lose, but they lose because the attacking trainer found a way to get to their weak spot.

Not my place to say. However but related, I've always wondered why you can't just go to a different type of Pokemart like a pet store and buy Pokemon that way. There are a few instances in the games where you pay for a mon (if I remember correctly), but not a market where you can just buy/adopt Pokemon.

Those instances have always been from the Game Corner or Mr Magikarp the con artist.

And honestly I'd like that to happen just once, even a fangame, being a young aspiring adventurer who dreams of grand battles and daring trials, but having to get his first pokemon from the local daycare off of a generous gift from mommy.

...though if we're being real, we participate in the practice of buying and selling pokemon to this day. Go Trade Shops!

 

[Sprinter1988]

I'm sure it's just the game being all "but you are the true strongest in the world", though it is shown in the anime (and I think sometimes the Manga) that type specialists have a myriad of ways to get around their pokemons weaknesses. They still lose, but they lose because the attacking trainer found a way to get to their weak spot.

That's true I suppose, but in the anime at least we see the gym battles as they happen to Ash and as we all know, Ash could have Sceptile, Torterra, Kingler, Palpitoad and Glalie on hand and would still send Pikachu out against a Rhyperior!

 

[Luthor]

I'd have to argue some of the pokedex entries seem a bit too horrifying to be given to children who actually train pokemon. "Should you feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill, it is evidence of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Give up." I'm willing to blame that one on the Rotom Pokedex but you get my point.

 

[Akashin]

I'd have to argue some of the pokedex entries seem a bit too horrifying to be given to children who actually train pokemon. "Should you feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill, it is evidence of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Give up." I'm willing to blame that one on the Rotom Pokedex but you get my point.

Ehh, we're talking about a world where ten year olds are given a Pokemon and set out into the wild by themselves. Hand holding over what the Pokedex does and doesn't tell them seems like an odd concern, given that.

 

[lemoncatpower]

Also another thing I was wondering about... in the pokemon world i feel like it's always implied that pokemon are all pretty rare for the most part. Or did I just get that feeling? I always felt like their would be lots of animals in the pokemon world, as common as in ours, if not more even more common. And that for pokemon you'd have to dig into habitats quite a bit deeper, and then WAAAY deeper obviously for rarer pokemon. Not dig, but explore to a strong degree. There'd be pokemon like rattata that may be easier to spot than a cheatah in the wild for instance but then a rattata would be a lot harder to spot than a real mouse/rat in the wild, but there would be different rarities per pokemon and per animal, but pokemon would be on the rarer side for the most part, if that all makes sense.

Do you guys think I have that about right?

 

[octoboy]

Personally, I don't think that the gym leaders/elite four/trial captains/kahunas/some champions being type specialists has ever made sense.

I think we've all been in the situation where we've gone up to a gym leader and something like this happened:

Brock/Roxanne/Roark/Grant: I specialise in rock type pokemon because they're tough!

You: Cool. I chose Bulbasaur/Squirle/Treecko/Mudkip/Turtwig/Piplup/Chespin/Froakie.

2-3 Vine Whips/Absorbs/Bubbles/Water Guns later...

Brock/Roxanne/Roark/Grant: I don't understand how my pokemon could have lost, but here's your badge.

You: So after all that hype its over already?

I've heard it suggested that gym leaders actually tailor gym battles to trainers of specific levels, hence their having different teams in different battles. Likely they go easy on you when you're new. Why they make it near effortless in lots of cases, I'm not sure, but it seems the idea is to test a trainer's strength in a tiered way, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually based on the number of badges you get. I wouldn't be surprised if more challenging leaders like Sabrina would probably only send out abra and slowpoke or something against a local trainer from Saffron who was just starting out, and the gym leaders likely only seem objectively progressively skilled because your character is forced to approach them in a specific order by a series of events.

Also another thing I was wondering about... in the pokemon world i feel like it's always implied that pokemon are all pretty rare for the most part. Or did I just get that feeling? I always felt like their would be lots of animals in the pokemon world, as common as in ours, if not more even more common. And that for pokemon you'd have to dig into habitats quite a bit deeper, and then WAAAY deeper obviously for rarer pokemon. Not dig, but explore to a strong degree. There'd be pokemon like rattata that may be easier to spot than a cheatah in the wild for instance but then a rattata would be a lot harder to spot than a real mouse/rat in the wild, but there would be different rarities per pokemon and per animal, but pokemon would be on the rarer side for the most part, if that all makes sense.

Do you guys think I have that about right?

I'm not sure about big animals, but I always did get the sense that there were at least insects and other invertebrates in the pokémon world that insect-eating pokémon such as victreebel and venonat would eat (unless their diet truly consists mainly of other pokémon). Some are adamant that they don't, but there are some references to them (even big ones if you consider raichu and haunter's dex entries). I'm not sure that they would be harder to find than regular animals though. I find I'd have to be pretty lucky to run into a rat more than two times or so a year, in the Pokémon games, it seems next to impossible to make ten paces without a rattata accosting you, so unless your character emits pokémon pheromones, I'd suspect the common pokémon could very well appear more often than their animal counterparts if they have them, particularly some of the aggressive or territorial ones like rattata.

 

[Sprinter1988]

I've heard it suggested that gym leaders actually tailor gym battles to trainers of specific levels, hence their having different teams in different battles. Likely they go easy on you when you're new. Why they make it near effortless in lots of cases, I'm not sure, but it seems the idea is to test a trainer's strength in a tiered way, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually based on the number of badges you get. I wouldn't be surprised if more challenging leaders like Sabrina would probably only send out abra and slowpoke or something against a local trainer from Saffron who was just starting out, and the gym leaders likely only seem objectively progressively skilled because your character is forced to approach them in a specific order by a series of events.

That makes sense to an extent, but it doesn't change the fact that one pokemon can sweep an entire gym - go against Brock as the first gym leader in Red, Bulbasaur's Vine Whip K.O'S Geodude and Onix with little effort. Go against Brock as the fourteenth gym leader in Gold, Meganium's Giga Drain K.O'S Onix, Graveler, Rhyhorn, Kabutops and Omastar with ease. As long as one of the six pokemon you have on hand has the right move, nine times out of ten, you sweep no matter what gets sent your way.
Even at the champion level, most of them can be handled with two or three moves: Lance - Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, Steven - Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Surf, Wallace - Thunderbolt and Giga Drain, Alder - Rock Slide and Ice Beam, Iris - Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, Diantha - Flash Cannon and Ice Beam. And if you get to that point in the game without finding the TM for those moves or haven't taught them to a pokemon, you've done something very very wrong.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

That makes sense to an extent, but it doesn't change the fact that one pokemon can sweep an entire gym - go against Brock as the first gym leader in Red, Bulbasaur's Vine Whip K.O'S Geodude and Onix with little effort. Go against Brock as the fourteenth gym leader in Gold, Meganium's Giga Drain K.O'S Onix, Graveler, Rhyhorn, Kabutops and Omastar with ease. As long as one of the six pokemon you have on hand has the right move, nine times out of ten, you sweep no matter what gets sent your way.
Even at the champion level, most of them can be handled with two or three moves: Lance - Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, Steven - Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Surf, Wallace - Thunderbolt and Giga Drain, Alder - Rock Slide and Ice Beam, Iris - Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, Diantha - Flash Cannon and Ice Beam. And if you get to that point in the game without finding the TM for those moves or haven't taught them to a pokemon, you've done something very very wrong.

This is pretty much true and to an extent you could take Cynthia on and do pretty well against her team using Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Rock Slide depending on which game you are playing.

 

[Bguy7]

Personally, I don't think that the gym leaders/elite four/trial captains/kahunas/some champions being type specialists has ever made sense.

I think we've all been in the situation where we've gone up to a gym leader and something like this happened:

Brock/Roxanne/Roark/Grant: I specialise in rock type pokemon because they're tough!

You: Cool. I chose Bulbasaur/Squirle/Treecko/Mudkip/Turtwig/Piplup/Chespin/Froakie.

2-3 Vine Whips/Absorbs/Bubbles/Water Guns later...

Brock/Roxanne/Roark/Grant: I don't understand how my pokemon could have lost, but here's your badge.

You: So after all that hype its over already?

Everyone has their favorite types, ad even some real players like to create mono-type teams. I myself quite often create pure Dragon-Type teams. It's made pretty obvious that most gym leaders have a strong affinity for their type, and therefore are willing to use a team of purely that type, even if it puts them at a disadvantage.

Also worth noting, in Black and White 2, Cheren, who uses an all Normal-Type team, instead of his team from Black and White, makes mention that he's using a team that isn't his own. Seeing as he gives out the Basic Badge, an already existing Normal-Type badge, it's possible that the league requires him to use a mono-type team to match the badge he gives away.

 

[Akashin]

Also worth noting, in Black and White 2, Cheren, who uses an all Normal-Type team, instead of his team from Black and White, makes mention that he's using a team that isn't his own. Seeing as he gives out the Basic Badge, an already existing Normal-Type badge, it's possible that the league requires him to use a mono-type team to match the badge he gives away.

This is a safe assumption for the most part, though we do have an exception to that rule in Blue. He even uses what is largely his Champion team, though perhaps he uses that team against you due to you being a Champion yourself and would use a lesser team against ordinary challengers.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Cheren probably uses Normal types because he's a first Gym Leader which tend to be the easiest to defeat. It also lets new players to the series learn about type match ups. If he was a fourth or later Gum Leader then perhaps his team would consist of multiple types.

 

[Bguy7]

Cheren probably uses Normal types because he's a first Gym Leader which tend to be the easiest to defeat. It also lets new players to the series learn about type match ups. If he was a fourth or later Gum Leader then perhaps his team would consist of multiple types.

He may be the first gym leader for someone starting their journey in Aspertia City, but if a trainer starts somewhere else, let's say, Nuvema Town, then there first gym battle will be elsewhere. In-universe there's no concept of a first gym, you face whatever gym you first come across first, assuming that it's open.

 

[Nerdy McNerdface]

This is a safe assumption for the most part, though we do have an exception to that rule in Blue. He even uses what is largely his Champion team, though perhaps he uses that team against you due to you being a Champion yourself and would use a lesser team against ordinary challengers.

That's actually highly likely, especially looking at the levels of Blue's Pokemon. I don't think someone going to that gym for their first badge would want to be trying to defeat a full team of high-levelled multityped Pokemon.

 

[Luthor]

Also worth noting, in Black and White 2, Cheren, who uses an all Normal-Type team, instead of his team from Black and White, makes mention that he's using a team that isn't his own. Seeing as he gives out the Basic Badge, an already existing Normal-Type badge, it's possible that the league requires him to use a mono-type team to match the badge he gives away.

very true. Not to forget that using the memory link you can rematch him using the team he used in black and white. So he still has the team but is deliberately battling with a lower level team.

 

[RedJirachi]

Why does Ghetsis think he can freeze you alive with Glaciate? Not only is it a non-freezing move, but those giant ice daggers sure aren't going to leave you living

 

[Xenomata]

Why does Ghetsis think he can freeze you alive with Glaciate? Not only is it a non-freezing move, but those giant ice daggers sure aren't going to leave you living

Surround the player with the ice daggers. They won't hit you, but your body temperature won't keep you warm long enough to withstand the extremely cold conditions of being trapped inside an icicle cage.

Just cause you aren't inside a block of ice doesn't mean you can't still be frozen alive. You'll be dead either way.

That's true I suppose, but in the anime at least we see the gym battles as they happen to Ash and as we all know, Ash could have Sceptile, Torterra, Kingler, Palpitoad and Glalie on hand and would still send Pikachu out against a Rhyperior!

To be fair, especially so in the anime, Pokemon doesn't so much embrace the concept of "You can do anything with the power of Friendship!" as much as it literally has ways to "do anything with the power of friendship!".

Return. Pokemon-amie/refresh. Mega Evolution and Z moves being implied to run on the bonds between trainer and pokemon. I think Ash being able to topple a Rhyperior with the Pikachu he has kept for 20 years (in our time) is the least offensive case.

 

[MechanisticMoth]

He may be the first gym leader for someone starting their journey in Aspertia City, but if a trainer starts somewhere else, let's say, Nuvema Town, then there first gym battle will be elsewhere. In-universe there's no concept of a first gym, you face whatever gym you first come across first, assuming that it's open.

I just kind of assume that the gym leader has a bunch of different Pokemon of different levels and strength that they use depending on however many other badges the challenger has. That way, they're prepared for whichever trainer in whatever stage of their journey before the Elite Four.

 

[octoboy]

Return. Pokemon-amie/refresh. Mega Evolution and Z moves being implied to run on the bonds between trainer and pokemon. I think Ash being able to topple a Rhyperior with the Pikachu he has kept for 20 years (in our time) is the least offensive case.

Yeah, and to be fair, pikachu not only has a move which is super effective against rhyperior in iron tail, but has been proven capable of successfully using an electrical attack on that particular line with certain (anime-exclusive) methods.

 

[Cat's Eye Draco]

I've always wondered why Gyarados is water/flying instead of water/dragon, especially since there was only one dragon line (Dragonite) available in Gen I. I mean, as far as I can recall Gyarados has never been shown/implied to be able to fly in either the games or the anime (though apparently it can jump very well), and it's primarily based off of a Chinese dragon...

 

[Sprinter1988]

Everyone has their favorite types, ad even some real players like to create mono-type teams. I myself quite often create pure Dragon-Type teams. It's made pretty obvious that most gym leaders have a strong affinity for their type, and therefore are willing to use a team of purely that type, even if it puts them at a disadvantage.

That's true, but these guys are the boss battles of the pokemon franchise. I myself have done a fair few type-lockes, including water, grass, fire, dragon, normal, ground, poison and flying, but the thing with those methods of playing, eventually you're going to run into a trainer using a pokemon that your team will struggle against. But you plan for that: you do a water type run in Hoenn, you start with Mudkip and evolve it so you can survive electricity, you catch a Wingull so you don't get destroyed by Shroomish with Mega Drain. Or if they type combinations aren't available in the game, you utilise your TM's - you do a grass type run and as quickly as possible you teach something Rock Tomb so you don't get obliterated by flying, fire, ice and bug types. You might get this at Elite Four level, but not in the gyms.

At the moment, the gym leaders work like this: This leader likes to hike in the mountains, so he has Graveler, Onix and Rhyhorn.
Or: This leader likes exploring the forest, so she has Weepinbell, Gloom and Exeggcute

I would like to see it as: This leader likes to hike in the mountains, so he has Graveler, Machoke, Clefable and Golbat.
Or: This leader likes exploring the forest, so she has Weepinbell, Pidgeotto, Pinsir and Raichu.

Or, I don't know, how about: This gym leader likes dogs, so he has Manectric, Mightyena, Stoutland, Granbull and Arcanine.

The leader still has a theme, just not one that is obliterated by one type.

Or failing that, they could just give us a bit more variety in the pokemon they give them. Do you realise that Hala is currently the only fighting type specialist who has never utilised a member of the Machop line? Or that Grant is the only rock type specialist who hasn't used a member of the Geodude line? And out of all the electric and steel type trainers, seven out of eleven use a member of the Magnemite line at some point (eight out of twelve if you include Colress, who is pretty much a steel type specialist except for Beheeyem). And while there aren't many poison type specialists out there, Koga, Agatha, Janine, Roxie and Plumeria all have used a Golbat or Crobat at some point.

And then you have the ones who use two of one pokemon line, like Misty with Staryu and Starmie, Giovanni with Rhyhorn and Rhydon, Falkner with Pidgey and Pidgeotto, Pryce with Seel and Dewgong. Or Morty with Gastly, Haunter, Gengar and another freakin' Haunter! Or Colress with Magneton and Magnezone. Or Jasmine with two Magnemite, one either side of her Steelix - cuz that's what you want to see in the sixth Gym Leader of a region, two pokemon that are exactly the same in every way, and both at the appropriate level to have evolved but neither has.