Making sense of the Pokémon universe

[minimaxplexus]

OK, this is in the right forum now:-

I think Pokémon is the most technologically advanced fantasy I've ever encountered. I think awesome epic stories could come out of it that aren't as childish, and could make the show more popular to different ages. The franchise still has plenty of untapped potential here.

So here are my initial ideas:-

Life forms and their consciousnesses can be completely transformed into a living form of energy and transported or downloaded onto a computer or storage device. This sort of technology is taken completely for granted. Also, the science of consciousness seems to be fully understood. A limit to the technology seems to be in creating natural bodies, which needs to take time, like the clones of Ambertwo, Mewtwo and the other creatures. Computer simulation doesn't seem to be able to be sufficient for this purpose.

At some point in history, humans replaced their original cellular material with an upgraded material that is much more resistant to damage, such that it can survive grenade-level explosions and falls from any height. This may have been done initially to adapt to space or a new heavy gravity planet that their space colony moved to after the original Earth was left behind, and taken to the extreme (rather than going with the minimum for survival).

At some distant point in the past, humans also created a new type of life form (Pokémon) that are also extremely resilient. The older ones are more powerful and were designed for control or defence, as nuclear weapons are today. Pokémon easily out-competed all normal animals, making them extinct, although some old animals such as fish and cattle may be kept for farming purposes (hence the steak stuff).

Life forms have been upgraded with extremely enhanced immune systems that eliminate all invasive parasites such as bacteria and viruses (and probably prions too). The only exception is Pokérus, which is extremely contagious from a slight contact, but only produces a 24 hour fever response in the carrier before it too is eliminated by their immune system.

Wars did apparently still happen until the recent peace spell in which the games and anime take place, so there may have been a lot of sinister disinformation and myths created about Arceus and Mew, for example, which are from various Dark Ages that occurred. The advanced technology was not lost in the process, but much information may have been lost especially to the public, and many true historical records may have been destroyed.

Pokémon realised they were created as a type of weapon (like the Iron Giant), and were more powerful than the humans, and peace eventually became enforced by the Pokémon themselves agreeing to only use turn-based "battles" using non-lethal force. This explains why otherwise evil gangsters could be defeated by a single trainer if he had strong enough Pokémon. Perhaps anyone who uses deadly force would cause said life form to be a legitimate target of all Pokémon for breaking the rules, or it might be similar to the MAD idea with nuclear weapons. In addition, Pokémon are very pure creatures and do not break their rules about non-lethal battles except in rare cases (like Mewtwo).

As a more specific idea, Baltoy sounds like when Americans say "battle toy", and in ancient times it was the equivalent of a gun. In the anime, some Baltoy stopped the space shuttle in mid-air, and on the Earth this would take about 20 Gigawatts each. I think the Pokémon world is a heavier gravity planet, so this may have been fusion rockets and thus Baltoy's power is probably much higher than 20 GW.

Edit note: I don't know why the forum automatically inserts links into this text... I don't know if anyone was complaining about that, but just realise it's got nothing to do with me.

 

[Cosmotone8]

Okay, first of all, (and I mean this in the nicest way possible) you're overthinking this. I get everything you're saying, but it's a video game. Its made for kids that (again, no offense at all intended) don't really care about this scientific stuff. Its the same thing with a lot of these Japanese games.

 

[Oryx]

The links are your browser, not the forum. Don't worry, we can't see them. :)

Okay, first of all, (and I mean this in the nicest way possible) you're overthinking this. I get everything you're saying, but it's a video game. Its made for kids that (again, no offense at all intended) don't really care about this scientific stuff. Its the same thing with a lot of these Japanese games.

But isn't it more fun if you think about it in a more mature way once you grow up and are capable of doing so?

1. I've always found this one of the most interesting aspects of the Pokemon universe, and most of my fanon of the universe's science is based around the theory that all Pokemon can be turned into energy and have their own energy. In my fanon, that's how physically incompatible Pokemon breed, through energy, and how things fit into Poke Balls and such.

2. I don't think this is necessarily something that's because of Pokemon. It's more an anime/cartoons thing. I mean Wile E. Coyote gets run over and survives often, and in anime it's just as bad if not worse.

Relating to your other points, there's a very compelling fanfiction-type story out there that theorizes that Pokemon were created for a massive war (the one Lt. Surge was in), that wiped out a ton of the world and accounts for a lot of the strange bits in Pokemon related to that.

 

[minimaxplexus]

I know very well there are some things in it that would be impossible in any universe, but that can just be put down to the producers making mistakes, so it can be overlooked.

I guess it's just fun to make your own sense out of it if you want.

Personally I wouldn't like the games/anime at all if I couldn't think of how it could be realistic in a different universe, and also how some awesomeness from that world could enter our own universe (for example changing the way we think about a lot of things to be much more positive). That's the main use I have for it, and I think without it I would have attributed a lot of negativity to relatively benign things in this universe.

For just one small example, I would probably very bitterly hate the entire concept of "competition" if it weren't for Pokémon showing me how it can be framed in a fun way.

There's a very compelling fanfiction-type story out there that theorizes that Pokemon were created for a massive war (the one Lt. Surge was in), that wiped out a ton of the world and accounts for a lot of the strange bits in Pokemon related to that.

Sounds interesting, what's it called?

 

[Oryx]

Took me a little bit to find, but it's called Mutant Future and is more of a timeline than anything haha. There's also the conspiracy theory that because all the men you see are either very old or children, and the ones that aren't are military or gang members, the Pokemon world just went through a war that killed an entire generation haha.

https://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Mutant_Future

 

[Kanto_Johto]

There's also the conspiracy theory that because all the men you see are either very old or children, and the ones that aren't are military or gang members, the Pokemon world just went through a war that killed an entire generation haha.

https://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Mutant_Future

Except that isn't true. Anyone who supports that theory has clearly forgotten that the trainer classes Bird Keeper, Rocker, Hiker, Swimmer, Engineer, Burglar, Fisherman, Cue Ball, Juggler, Gambler and the male Gym Leaders/E4 members are all clearly either teenagers, young men or middle-aged men. That theory is silly.

 

[minimaxplexus]

It's hard to tell when certain technological breakthroughs would come about but it's fun to compare the different technologies in different fictions, for example:

Star Trek has teleporters but occasional malfunctions in them, and faster than light travel that still takes a LONG time, and most of the galaxy is unexplored. Yet, time travel to the past is just about possible, and considered to be well-developed and easy in the 29th century (set about 500 years later).

Star Wars has no teleporting at all, and no time travel, but very good faster-than-light travel, flying cars, and the galaxy is fully explored (although intergalactic travel is still way off).

Pokémon has teleporting and time travel with no problems whatsoever (except the possible paradoxes, but it seems Dialga/Celebi can correct those if you're emotional enough about it). Yet there are no flying cars, and it seems technological transport is just about at the late 20th century level. Baltoy from the ancient past had a time machine, so it would seem time travel is one of the lost technologies of the past. I also think the cars can be explained by all transport technology being somehow trashed or made obsolete by Pokémon, then there were some dark ages, which the series does hint at (like when the war from the 8th Movie was going on). So I think the past also had faster-than-light technology which was also lost, but the technology about consciousness and teleportation or digital conversion was still preserved and free of malfunctions.

Also, the population on the world in the games is obviously very small, with very small "cities", which is a far stretch from the anime, although I wouldn't be surprised if the canon says there are "now 7 billion people in the world", because it likes to relate a lot to our own world. But that can be overlooked of course.

I'm just thinking that if the franchise starts to lose some of its power (as I've heard the anime has, according to a lot of people), some ideas like these could be used to revive it. Maybe even some Halo-like games could come out of it if they explored the past, even if the future of that world does get more and more cuddly and childish.