I was gonna say this but I wasn't sure if it was super releveant so
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SPOILERS! Mysteries and Conspiracies of Pokemon
- Thread starter stage7_4
- Start date
I am sure most of you are familiar with the cryptic Braille engravings of the Sealed Chamber, alluding to the frightening power of the Regis; also included are instructions for undoing the seal, which involve Relicanth and Wailord. As to why those two Pokemon in particular, many have noted a connection in their real-world counterparts; the coelacanth represents the earliest migrations of vertebrates from sea to land, while cetaceans are mammals that have returned to inhabit the ocean. Most explanations on the internet conclude that the choice of Pokemon here is intended to tie into the themes of Ruby and Sapphire.
While these analyses are reasonable I believe they stopped one step short of discovering the whole picture. The instruction is placed following the story of the Sealed Chamber inhabitants because it actually alludes to their ultimate fate. Recall that according to the inscriptions these people lived there "thanks to the powerful Pokemon living alongside [them]".
Now I don't think it is feasible or desirable for humans to permanently reside in an underwater cavern. One could suppose they have harnessed the power of the Regis (perhaps Regigigas, even, which is known to form continents) to raise land out of the ocean, and built a cavern as their new home; this is what Relicanth refers to. From there we could easily deduce what happened next, represented by Wailord; once the power of the legendary Pokemon was sealed, the cave returned to where it may be found today, submerged deep beneath the rapid currents of Route 134.
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Meanwhile I think it's Nuclear war allegory
I am sure most of you are familiar with the cryptic Braille engravings of the Sealed Chamber, alluding to the frightening power of the Regis; also included are instructions for undoing the seal, which involve Relicanth and Wailord. As to why those two Pokemon in particular, many have noted a connection in their real-world counterparts; the coelacanth represents the earliest migrations of vertebrates from sea to land, while cetaceans are mammals that have returned to inhabit the ocean. Most explanations on the internet conclude that the choice of Pokemon here is intended to tie into the themes of Ruby and Sapphire.
While these analyses are reasonable I believe they stopped one step short of discovering the whole picture. The instruction is placed following the story of the Sealed Chamber inhabitants because it actually alludes to their ultimate fate. Recall that according to the inscriptions these people lived there "thanks to the powerful Pokemon living alongside [them]".
Now I don't think it is feasible or desirable for humans to permanently reside in an underwater cavern. One could suppose they have harnessed the power of the Regis (perhaps Regigigas, even, which is known to form continents) to raise land out of the ocean, and built a cavern as their new home; this is what Relicanth refers to. From there we could easily deduce what happened next, represented by Wailord; once the power of the legendary Pokemon was sealed, the cave returned to where it may be found today, submerged deep beneath the rapid currents of Route 134.
Where the people in the cave were bomb shelter survivors, while Wailord is the Fat Man bomber with Relicanth torpedos/warheads. The initial Regis Represent THO (a nuclear compound) and the locations of the bombings since Hoenn is based on Kyushu. In RS dev, Project Numo was happening in Japan to utilize Nuclear power, and many were concerned
The other Regis interestingly still support this theory. Regigigas is located in the Hokkaido WW2 memorial, the Galar Titans are notably in a region that's anti nuclear (Scotland), which supported Japan mid SwSh dev regarding anti nuclear stance
It's a pretty grim theory not confirmed, though a lot is weirdly coincidental
Ok, I've though of a new thing to discuss: If you clasp a Poke Ball over a pokemon small enough to fit into it without shrinking (which probably only applies to Joltik and Cutiefly), is it caught? Like, the pokemon rests on the inside of an empty ball, and you just shut the ball with it inside. Not throwing it at the thing.
Going to say no, there's a difference between going through the whole capture sequence nad just putting it into a ball.
probably needs some breathing holes, too.......
Agree, what you describe is pretty much no different from them catching a bug or fish Pokemon in a net or a land Pokemon with the ol' box & carrot. Yeah, they're "inside" of something that is enclosed around them, but what connects the Pokemon to you hasn't been done. If you want to make the Pokemon yours you'd have to go through the process of befriending them (which might be a tad harder after you threw a net/box over them) and over time you could form a trainer & Pokemon bond (and even then there's probably a few things you can't do unless you have them registered in a Poke Ball & connected to your Trainer ID).
The Poke Ball is more then just a handy storage device. It's connected to a system that gives each trainer a Trainer ID. Poke Balls, upon capture of a Pokemon, are registered to the trainer that used them (don't think too hard about how, it just is). This registering process also seems to create or at least speeds up the natural creation of a bond that trainer & Pokemon are said to have that allow Pokemon to become stronger compared to their Wild counterparts. Not only that, mechanics have been made & discovered which can use the bond in ways an uncaptured Pokemon can't (such as Mega Evos, Z-Moves, and especially Dynamax which does actually use the Poke Ball).
Pop Quiz!
What normal Pokemon do not have a Pokemon card, discounting the Legends Arceus Pokemon as they haven't gotten a set yet?
While you think on that let's talk about forms of Pokemon in the TCG. Kind of provide extra context, you see.
When it comes to "minor" forms they're a lot more conservative.
Regional forms? Fully covered (HIsui aside, obviously).
How about Megas? Actually quite a few are missing, mostly because there was so few per set and they kept doubling up on certain cards. Missing are Pinsir, Medicham, Banette, Latias, Abomasnow, Sableye & Lopunny.
G-Maxes are also missing some, but to be fair the Gen 8 sets are still ongoing. Currently missing are Machamp (shockingly), Kingler, Melmetal, Appletun (but Flapple has one and they literally share the sam GMax design so....) and Hatterene (also shocking).
So that detour out of the way, were you to guess........
Hero Zacian, Hero Zamazenta and Normal Calyrex????
No really! A trend you probably saw in that big list was that even if they're missing variations, they always have the base form somewhere but with these 3 its flipped: they only have their upgraded forms. Every Zacian is Blade, every Zamazenta is Shield, and every Calyrex (there's a few) is either Ice Rider or Shadow Rider
But guess what you fell for my form trap because those 3 are at least still present in the TCG by name, but you know who aren't? Spectrier & Glastrier! Yep, the only way they're in the TCG is as part of the Ice & Shadow Rider cards. They're only in the game in a technical sense at this point and are not named on the card themselves. We're about to head full swing into the Sinnoh era, so it could be a while before they get another shot.
What normal Pokemon do not have a Pokemon card, discounting the Legends Arceus Pokemon as they haven't gotten a set yet?
While you think on that let's talk about forms of Pokemon in the TCG. Kind of provide extra context, you see.
Unown? All 28 Unown have their own card! Pretty impressive, right?
Castform? Has had all its forms released ac ouple times
Deoxys? Obviously, had a whole set dedicated to it.
Burmy & Wormadam, got the whole set of 6.
Cherrim? Shockingly yes the cloudy form got one (1) card; though it's not marked as such the art is overcast and the attacks are based around it.
Rotom? Not only do we have the 5 "real" ones all the canon rotom extra forms are here too which is funny. Even the Drone!
Giratina, Shaymin all covered. Basculin, Darmanitan, Deerling, Sawsbuck, the Kami trio, Kyurems, Keldeo, Meloetta all taken care of in full as well. Ash-Greninja even had an EX card. Aegislash has both. Hoopa's got both as well.
Xerneas doesnt have one for "Neutral mode" which I guess makes sense....it'd always be in battle. Honestly still the weirdest form in the game, it literally only exists out of battle. Zygarde has one for 10%, 50% & 100% but doesn't have anything for the Cells & Cores. Honestly considering all the Rotom cards you'd think Core would get a Trainer Card or something, for Squishy.
All four Oriocorios, the 3 Lycanrocs, Wishiwashi are present. Minior doesnt account for all the colors, but does have a SHields Up/Shields Down pair. A necrozma for every occasion.
Toxtricity has both (they were even the stars of a TCG set), as does Morpeko. Eiscue surprisingly doesn't have a card for Noice Face! I really thought it'd at least have a secret art depicting it, but nope!
Zacian & Zamazenta have their crowned forms all over.
Eternatus gets to show off Eternamax on its VMax cards.
Urshifu has both.
Calyrex has Ice & Shadow riders.
Castform? Has had all its forms released ac ouple times
Deoxys? Obviously, had a whole set dedicated to it.
Burmy & Wormadam, got the whole set of 6.
Cherrim? Shockingly yes the cloudy form got one (1) card; though it's not marked as such the art is overcast and the attacks are based around it.
Rotom? Not only do we have the 5 "real" ones all the canon rotom extra forms are here too which is funny. Even the Drone!
Giratina, Shaymin all covered. Basculin, Darmanitan, Deerling, Sawsbuck, the Kami trio, Kyurems, Keldeo, Meloetta all taken care of in full as well. Ash-Greninja even had an EX card. Aegislash has both. Hoopa's got both as well.
Xerneas doesnt have one for "Neutral mode" which I guess makes sense....it'd always be in battle. Honestly still the weirdest form in the game, it literally only exists out of battle. Zygarde has one for 10%, 50% & 100% but doesn't have anything for the Cells & Cores. Honestly considering all the Rotom cards you'd think Core would get a Trainer Card or something, for Squishy.
All four Oriocorios, the 3 Lycanrocs, Wishiwashi are present. Minior doesnt account for all the colors, but does have a SHields Up/Shields Down pair. A necrozma for every occasion.
Toxtricity has both (they were even the stars of a TCG set), as does Morpeko. Eiscue surprisingly doesn't have a card for Noice Face! I really thought it'd at least have a secret art depicting it, but nope!
Zacian & Zamazenta have their crowned forms all over.
Eternatus gets to show off Eternamax on its VMax cards.
Urshifu has both.
Calyrex has Ice & Shadow riders.
Arceus is interesting in that its Plate forms are both not all covered and also realistically as covered as they can be. When Arceus first came out in its set it had a version for 8 of the plates that corresponded to the 8 types in the TCG. Now they could have doubled up on these where appropriate, but I can see why they wouldn't bother...it's a llot of Arceuses. And obviously Fairy couldn't exist and by the time it did exist they weren't doing a bunch of Arceus cards like that and now Fairy is rolled into Psychic....
The various "overdrive" forms of the Tao trio (when they light up) are depicted in passing in various cards; Solgaleo & Lunala don't.
Marshadow's "zenith" coloration is in a bunch of cards.
Genesect, shockingly, doesn't have a single card referencing its """"form change"""" to account for its Drives. There's never even been even like "this attack does [type] damage if [energy] is attached" attack.
Vivillon's very first appearence actually did do the "regional" gimmick. Meadow, Elegant, High Plains, Continenetal, Marine, Savana & Snow. They proceeded to never do this for the other sets, I presume because it's a really extravagant gimmick (the snow one was only available in RUSSIA) and you can't even release them in all the territories and so on.
Flabebe & Florges didn't bother. Floette does on the technicality that one of the cards depicts all the floette flower types. Eternal Floette has never been depicted anywhere, which would be notable if not for the fact it was never actually releasaed to begin with...
Furfrou's initial release only had 4 of them: Normal & 3 variations. Then much later one they released another coat??? So 5/8 total.
Pumpkaboo & Gourgeist have...probably....not actually tried to do the sizes. I guess you could make arguments for some of the cards maybe being smaller or bigger than the other? But it's not really acknowledged. Again hard to blame them here.
Mimikyu doesnt have art depicting the dummy broken, but does have abilities that reference it so we can call that even.
Magearna's original colors haven't had a card; perhaps because it wasn't available in a game until now.
Cramorant has one depicting Gulp but not Gorging.
Alcremie hasn't depicted any of its color variations or its decoration variations and considering the sheer number of them I get it
No Dada Zarude (but we do have a card for Koko lol)
The various "overdrive" forms of the Tao trio (when they light up) are depicted in passing in various cards; Solgaleo & Lunala don't.
Marshadow's "zenith" coloration is in a bunch of cards.
Genesect, shockingly, doesn't have a single card referencing its """"form change"""" to account for its Drives. There's never even been even like "this attack does [type] damage if [energy] is attached" attack.
Vivillon's very first appearence actually did do the "regional" gimmick. Meadow, Elegant, High Plains, Continenetal, Marine, Savana & Snow. They proceeded to never do this for the other sets, I presume because it's a really extravagant gimmick (the snow one was only available in RUSSIA) and you can't even release them in all the territories and so on.
Flabebe & Florges didn't bother. Floette does on the technicality that one of the cards depicts all the floette flower types. Eternal Floette has never been depicted anywhere, which would be notable if not for the fact it was never actually releasaed to begin with...
Furfrou's initial release only had 4 of them: Normal & 3 variations. Then much later one they released another coat??? So 5/8 total.
Pumpkaboo & Gourgeist have...probably....not actually tried to do the sizes. I guess you could make arguments for some of the cards maybe being smaller or bigger than the other? But it's not really acknowledged. Again hard to blame them here.
Mimikyu doesnt have art depicting the dummy broken, but does have abilities that reference it so we can call that even.
Magearna's original colors haven't had a card; perhaps because it wasn't available in a game until now.
Cramorant has one depicting Gulp but not Gorging.
Alcremie hasn't depicted any of its color variations or its decoration variations and considering the sheer number of them I get it
No Dada Zarude (but we do have a card for Koko lol)
Regional forms? Fully covered (HIsui aside, obviously).
How about Megas? Actually quite a few are missing, mostly because there was so few per set and they kept doubling up on certain cards. Missing are Pinsir, Medicham, Banette, Latias, Abomasnow,
G-Maxes are also missing some, but to be fair the Gen 8 sets are still ongoing. Currently missing are Machamp (shockingly), Kingler, Melmetal, Appletun (but Flapple has one and they literally share the sam GMax design so....) and Hatterene (also shocking).
So that detour out of the way, were you to guess........
Hero Zacian, Hero Zamazenta and Normal Calyrex????
No really! A trend you probably saw in that big list was that even if they're missing variations, they always have the base form somewhere but with these 3 its flipped: they only have their upgraded forms. Every Zacian is Blade, every Zamazenta is Shield, and every Calyrex (there's a few) is either Ice Rider or Shadow Rider
But guess what you fell for my form trap because those 3 are at least still present in the TCG by name, but you know who aren't? Spectrier & Glastrier! Yep, the only way they're in the TCG is as part of the Ice & Shadow Rider cards. They're only in the game in a technical sense at this point and are not named on the card themselves. We're about to head full swing into the Sinnoh era, so it could be a while before they get another shot.
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Really good post, although I do want to note Mega Lopunny and Mega Sableye did sort of get cards - they never got their own Mega EX cards but they appeared in name and design on some tag teams
Why are so many of the overtly gun-based Pokemon Water-type?
Probably a combination of water guns being popular and easy to attach to an animal in various ways, and stuff like actual animals known for shooting stuff
Why are so many of the overtly gun-based Pokemon Water-type?
So it's well established that measurements mentioned in the Pokedex are complete nonsense, but this is a new kind of nonsense.
"A Pokémon with two heads. More skilled at running than flying, it is capable of racing at speeds over 60 mph."
"One of Doduo's 2 heads splits to form a unique species. It runs close to 40 mph in prairies."
The extra head weighs it down, I guess?
"A Pokémon with two heads. More skilled at running than flying, it is capable of racing at speeds over 60 mph."
"One of Doduo's 2 heads splits to form a unique species. It runs close to 40 mph in prairies."
The extra head weighs it down, I guess?
And Dodrio has a higher Speed stat.So it's well established that measurements mentioned in the Pokedex are complete nonsense, but this is a new kind of nonsense.
"A Pokémon with two heads. More skilled at running than flying, it is capable of racing at speeds over 60 mph."
"One of Doduo's 2 heads splits to form a unique species. It runs close to 40 mph in prairies."
The extra head weighs it down, I guess?
I'd also add that Water is fairly unusual for having several attacks themed as projectiles or tight beams that are both weak enough to appear early in a mon's moveset and based on Special Attack so the mon can easily transition into using stuff like Hydro Pump, Aura Sphere, and Ice Beam. The non-water mons I think of off the top of my head that have a gun theme (Magmortar, Forretress, Vikavolt, my headcanon for Roserade) all evolve into that theme rather than starting with it.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Speed stat vs actual movement speed has long been bullshit. Escavalier comes to mind (there are almost certainly others I've forgotten) where it's described as such in the dex...
Black Pokedex entry: They fly around at high speed, striking with their pointed spears. Even when in trouble, they face opponents bravely.
...but has a ridiculously low Speed stat.
I can't remember if it was on this thread or even this forum at all, but someone once rationalised the Speed stat as being reaction time, not physical quickness. This explains why Arcanine is described as one of the fastest Pokemon in the world yet mechanically has a fairly unexceptional Speed stat.
Depends on your definition of "weigh down".
Doduo Deciding To Run:
Head 1: Go this way?
Head 2: Sounds good to me!
ZOOM!
Dodrio Deciding To Run:
Head 1: Go this way?
Head 2: Sounds good to me!
*Starts to run*
Head 3: Actually guys I think we should go that way.
*Slows down to just a speedy strut*
Head 1: Why didn't you speak up before we began running?
Head 3: Didn't know I wanted to until we started.
Head 1: Once we start running we can't change direction so easily, 2 back me up.
Head 2: Nuh-uh, I'm not getting involved with this.
Head 1: We share a body, you're already involved with this!
Head 3: You're always so demanding.
Head 1: Cause who else is going to take charge of you two bird-brains!
*Has completely stopped running and are pecking at each other*
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Not really a major mystery but something that confused me as I just transferred a couple of them... why is Unown found in the forest area in the Pal Park? None of the locations it can be caught in are forest areas, they're always ruins and/or caves. I would have expected to find them in the mountain area or just the general field area, so ran around for a couple of minutes confused as to why they weren't showing up.
One inconsistency that has probably been noticed before, but caught my eye. Let’s talk about the Galactic Bomb. If the characters can feel it in Canalave when it’s in Lake Valor (in essence, on the other side of the country), then how is Pastoria City still standing?
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Someone on Tumblr once did an analysis of this which was interesting but, spoiler alert, concluded the whole plot point is bullshit.
Cartoon physics. Gotta be. I'd always assumed that the bomb being detonated (presumably) underwater (at both Lake Valor and the Great Marsh) meant that it caused less damage than it otherwise would have done, but it turns out underwater detonations can be just as lethal so I got nothing.
Anyway, what's on my mind today is the Striation Gym. It's obviously designed in-game to counter your starter, and my headcanon was always that the girl in the Dreamyard who gives you an elemental monkey is just an employee trying to drum up business (much like the people who don't let you leave Pewter/Violet City before you've beaten their respective gyms). Fine, but what do they do for someone whose first Pokemon was a Lillipup?
The gym only really "works" as a tutorial for people who received one of the FWG core in Nuvema, but not everyone does. It would be reasonable enough if it were simply just a gym that specialises in three types, but it's emphasised repeatedly that it's all about type advantages. An NPC in Striaton complains that "whenever I challenge the Gym Leader, he always uses Pokemon that are strong against mine" but that doesn't really make sense unless this particular man has a team composed entirely of Pokemon weak to Grass, Fire, or Water, which seems unlikely (especially since the sprite is that of a Roughneck, a trainer class which specialises in Dark-types). If you're, say, an Ace Trainer from the other side of the region who has a bunch of badges already, then presumably this gym is basically just a bog-standard gym challenge, right? In the anime we see Burgundy challenge Cilan because she has a Dewott, and then challenge Chili when Cilan is absent (which... seems to run counter to the purpose of that gym, but I guess it's more logical than her fighting Cress).
Idk. I just find the entire existence of this gym puzzling and kind of at odds with how gyms are meant to operate in-universe.
That’s one funky thermonuclear weapon.
At first I wondered if many it was the "default" location where they just placed all the Pokemon they don't know about, but that looks to be the Field area.
Looking at all the other Pokemon who are placed in forest I'm seeing a lot of nocturnal and ghost Pokemon. It makes me wonder if, in GF's logic, the forest can be used as a pseudo "dark/shadowy" location (due to the tall trees blocking the sun) for Pokemon that usually are found in those environments. While it's not an exact fit, Unown have only been found in dark locations so, without ruins or caves, these was probably considered the next best thing. But now I'm just imagining you walking through a shady forest and suddenly all the trees around you have odd writing all over them, and some start blinking *shivers*.
As green_typhlosion posted, for this to be done in real life the bomb would have not just evaporated the water but also destroyed the lake & surrounding area and, if a nuclear bomb, have made probably the entire Sinnoh region radioactive.
So the only conclusion is that, being they're a science-based organization, that the bombs they used were specially made to ONLY rapidly evaporate/displace H2O and not effect living life forms (because Magikarp are still alive and a few scenes later the lakes rapidly refill and are populated again so the effects were temporary). Yeah, I know, super cartoony, but that's what we're working with here.
If I was told to make a bomb that made sense (cartoony physics allowed of course), I would just make it a science bomb that just messes with physics. When detonated the bomb would create an infinite void space that would encompass the whole lake and everything in it (water, sand, plantlife, Pokemon, etc.). Where did everything go, you ask? It still exists, it's just been spatially and temporally misaligned so it's still there but just not at the moment; In addition to the void space it likely also released some quantum particles in order to sustain the anomaly for a short while). However short time is the keyword, eventually physics will correct itself so the clock was ticking for Team Galactic to do what they needed to do and split before everything returned. And of course this instantaneous shifting of space and time would probably send metaphysical shockwaves through the spacetime of Sinnoh which would feel like an earthquake but isn't as it's not quite a physical aftermath that's being felt.
So, WHY would Galactic even do this, especially when they didn't do this for the other lakes? My guess it would have to do with Azelf as it's the only factor different from the other lakes. Actually, that is just an assumption, maybe they did have two other bombs or some other device but maybe they had different effects. I imagine to get the Lake Trio to appear you need to do more than just surf to their island cave. For the player they just appeared to them because prodigy/pure of heart/chosen one/etc.. But for Team Galactic they probably needed to do some "coaxing". So Mesprit would need something which disturbed emotions, Uxie something that would disturb intelligence, and Azelf something that disturbed willpower. For Mesprit and Uxie I could see them having a machine that used psychic waves which could affect the mind in various ways. But for Azelf, probably really no psychic waves that could disrupt willpower in the way so that it's forced out, so instead they tried a different method: a show of force. They just didn't harm the lake (and in theory have things try to fight back against them), they completely displaced the lake and everything in an instant so they were no resistance whatsoever. As the being of willpower, that probably would have offended Azelf enough to appear (though they then likely had a way to instantly disable it).
Well the actual answer is we're not supposed to think about it.
The only "out" I can think of is that, when you first meet them, Cilan is standing outside of the Gym and notes what your first Pokemon is (which, thinking about it, is kind of cheating for the Gym Leader to do...). For the player and anyone who has a Pokemon with a Type that interacts with Grass, Fire, and Water they'll pick the best counter. But otherwise I can see if one wouldn't have a better advantage over the other they would let the Challenger choose who to challenge. So basically:
Leader You'll Challenge Depending On Type:
Cilan: Water, Electric,
Chili: Bug, Steel, Grass, Ice, Fairy
Cress: Fire
Cilan or Chili: None (at least for mono-types)
Cilan or Cress: Ground, Rock,
Chili or Cress: Flying, Poison,
Any: Normal, Fighting, Ghost, Psychic, Dragon, Dark
Type combination of course not withstanding, For a duel-type Pokemon I'd imagine it might be more complicated as they'd likely focus on weakness first but also gotta be careful of the secondary type giving the opponent an advantage.
(Mods please read the full post first, it seems like a leak spoiler at first but it actually wasn't this entire time)
In the 1996 Red and Green Guidebook, it was revealed that Pokemon all have the ability to shrink themselves when injured or sedated.
Legends: Arceus leaks revealed that this is still canon, but it seems it goes farther back than that. Dialogue in the Gen IV games also mentions this directly, but was mistranslated as "curled up tight" instead of "shrinking", and here is the biggest thing of all:
Imageboard 4chan decided to contact Pokemon BBS, a Japanese fan site, for their opinions on this, and come to find out in the Japanese fanbase the idea that Pokemon shrink themselves is as common knowledge as Pikachu being an Electric type, and openly mocked the international fans for just finding this out.
It seems that, in Japan, the fact that Pokemon shrink themselves to fit into Pokeballs(except in the anime adaption which has them turn into energy) or to protect themselves when they faint(as most 3D games actively show Pokemon shrinking when they faint) is drilled into Japan fan's heads a lot, so it is considered one of the most basic and well-known Pokemon facts over there.
In the 1996 Red and Green Guidebook, it was revealed that Pokemon all have the ability to shrink themselves when injured or sedated.
Legends: Arceus leaks revealed that this is still canon, but it seems it goes farther back than that. Dialogue in the Gen IV games also mentions this directly, but was mistranslated as "curled up tight" instead of "shrinking", and here is the biggest thing of all:
Imageboard 4chan decided to contact Pokemon BBS, a Japanese fan site, for their opinions on this, and come to find out in the Japanese fanbase the idea that Pokemon shrink themselves is as common knowledge as Pikachu being an Electric type, and openly mocked the international fans for just finding this out.
It seems that, in Japan, the fact that Pokemon shrink themselves to fit into Pokeballs(except in the anime adaption which has them turn into energy) or to protect themselves when they faint(as most 3D games actively show Pokemon shrinking when they faint) is drilled into Japan fan's heads a lot, so it is considered one of the most basic and well-known Pokemon facts over there.
Some examples of Pokemon being shrunken down in official media (Please ignore the manga fakemon). I'm sure it's a remnant of the Capsule Monster idea, being reminiscent of gashapon machines. Personally, Pokemon being converted to data/energy makes more sense when combined with PC storage and trading never being hand-to-hand, only with technology.
Thinking about it also made me realize Pokemon Rumble is Capsule Monsters reborn.
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Honestly I love nonsense like this. These incredibly small details that the games rarely ever talk about, but are still somewhat inexplicably canon so when they land somewhere visible its like "wait...what?"
My other favorite (one I'm sure has been mentioned here a few times) is the fact that pokemon eggs are not "really" eggs, something iirc mentioned once a million years ago in that untranslateduntilrecently pokedex book and then one (1) more time in a random ass NPC in XY
My other favorite (one I'm sure has been mentioned here a few times) is the fact that pokemon eggs are not "really" eggs, something iirc mentioned once a million years ago in that untranslateduntilrecently pokedex book and then one (1) more time in a random ass NPC in XY
I also feel that pokemon being converted to energy/data also works to explain why the first and most prominent artificially created pokemon was done through programming and not e.g. genetic engineering. If we assume the technology exists, it also explains a lot of the weird stuff with items over the series (why they always appear as pokeballs in the overworld, how the player can carry so much, why trade with item evolutions are a thing) and how the teleporters we've had since gen 1 work. I guess if we extend the shrinking thing outwards, it could explain Dynamax and why most large mons are light for their size? Still seems a bit lacking in comparison