Solosopher & Solosophy

By Tyler Nator

(Companion Appendices to “Redwood: Memoirs of a Pokémon Master”)

Foreword by Solomon Li:

~While Master Tyler originally wasn’t keen on having these included, I (Solomon Li) was intrigued and impressed at the amount of detail and research that my Poké-Consultant was able to provide for the narrative, especially as to this date, Master Tyler has only been paid in cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets (though if the book becomes successful, he’d be entitled to 50/50 benefits). After much persuading, he reluctantly agreed to share his vast knowledge of Pokémon lore with not only myself, but also anyone who reads “Redwood: Memoirs of a Pokémon Master”. Please enjoy these wonderfully constructed essays/discussions on several topics that helped my confidence in writing this book. On a final note, I must stress that Tyler Nator makes Redwood look like a noob in comparison, and unlike Redwood, has many friends and lovers.

Disclaimer by Tyler Nator:

The following Essays / opinion pieces were written and compiled before August 2021. New information may have come to light in that time, potentially invalidating portions of this compendium.

Any views or opinions expressed within this compendium do not represent the views or opinions of Solomon Li, and are not endorsed or shared by him, Niantic, The Pokémon Company, Game Freak etc.

1. An introduction to the ownership of the Pokémon franchise, eg Niantic, The Pokémon Company, Nintendo.

Early History

Pokémon, or Pocket Monsters, was created as a set of games, Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green for the Nintendo Game Boy. The games were developed by Game Freak and were released in 1996, significantly extending the life of the Game Boy hardware, which itself was originally released in 1989. At the time, the release of two different versions was done to incentivise players to Trade with each other, as certain Pokémon could only be obtained in certain games. This was achieved through the use of the Game Link Cable, used to connect two Game Boy consoles together.

It was together with this socialisation aspect, as well as the appealing designs of the characters (along with rumours of a secret character, Mew), that allowed the series to take off in popularity. Pocket Monsters Blue was later released, which would serve as the basis for the international versions of the games, Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version, which were released in 1998.

A Trading Card Game was created, which was developed by Creatures Inc. and distributed by Media Factory in 1996 in Japan, and was released in the United States in 1999, where production and distribution of cards was handled by Wizards of the Coast. The Pokémon Trading Card Game was originally created to serve as an advertisement for the core series games.

An anime series was also produced, which began airing in Japan in 1997, and the United States in 1998. The anime follows the story of a boy named Satoshi and his quest to become a Pokémon Master. The anime series was originally slated to run only for about a year and a half, but the success of Pokémon allowed the series to continue to this day, currently having aired over 1100 episodes with no signs of slowing down. Based on the anime, a special version of Pokémon was released on Game Boy, Pokémon Yellow Version, which took more cues from the anime series and allowed the player to begin the game with Pikachu as their Starter Pokémon, which by that point, had become the series mascot.

In association with the anime, twenty-three movies have been produced, each one usually featuring a companion story taking place within a particular anime series, though later movies eventually started their own continuity, beginning with a ‘film reboot’ of the franchise in 2017. Both the anime movies and series proper were produced by OLM Inc. and Team Ota, Team Iguchi, and Team Kato respectively, throughout the series’ run.

Both the anime and movies were originally localised for international audiences by 4kids Entertainment until the end of 2005.

Formation of The Pokémon Company / Streamlining

Due to the unparalleled success of the Pokémon franchise, and with so many different moving parts, companies, contractors etc. all involved, it was decided that a new company would be created to manage the Pokémon brand and franchise exclusively. This company was called The Pokémon Company, created as a three-part investment between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The creation of The Pokémon Company allowed for better communication and streamlining of the Pokémon brand.

Unfortunately, the creation of The Pokémon Company saw Pokémon take a lot of its outsourced production in-house. This began with the Pokémon Trading Card Game in 2003, taking back international distribution rights from Wizards of the Coast, and then with the anime in 2005, when The Pokémon Company decided not to renew their contract with 4kids Entertainment. The Pokémon Company International would produce their own localised version and respective language Dubs of the anime from 2006 onwards.

The management of The Pokémon Company allowed the franchise to act almost as a perpetual machine – Game Freak would develop a new Generation of core series Pokémon games, featuring new Pokémon and a new Region, new features etc. and the games would release exclusively on Nintendo hardware (first the Game Boy, then the Game Boy Color, then the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and now most recently, the Nintendo Switch).

At the same time, the anime would adapt and feature Pokémon and story elements from the video games (the Original Series took place in Kanto, the setting of the original games, before moving onto Johto, the setting of Gold and Silver, then Hoenn, the setting of Ruby and Sapphire, and so on and so on).

The Trading Card Game would also feature the new Pokémon, as well as Trainer Cards of characters from the new games, new gameplay mechanics and more.

The movies would typically tie into the distribution of a Mythical Pokémon (Pokémon that would otherwise be impossible to obtain in the games, where players could receive either the Pokémon in question, or a special Event Item to catch that Pokémon in-game – for example, in Japan, people who purchased tickets for the seventh Pokémon movie, featuring Deoxys, also received the ‘Aurora Ticket’, an in-game item that players could use in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, or Emerald, to allow their character to sail to Birth Island, where they could Battle and then try to catch the Mythical Pokémon Deoxys).

While core series Pokémon titles are developed by Game Freak and released exclusively on Nintendo consoles, The Pokémon Company itself handles the development and publishing of Pokémon mobile games. Many of the mobile games originally produced were ‘companion apps’, such as a Pokédex to view Pokémon, or an app to watch episodes of the anime. It wasn’t until 2016, with the release of Pokémon Duel and PoGO, that Pokémon truly had fully-featured mobile games available.

PoGO

PoGO was the eleventh Pokémon mobile game released, although its development began in 2013. Pokémon Company President Tsunekazu Ishihara and then-President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata developed the original concept for PoGO, and PoGO was in fact, the last game that Satoru Iwata worked on before he passed away in July 2015.

PoGO’s most important core feature, its location-based gameplay, was trialled in 2014, where, as an April Fool’s Day prank, conceptualised by Tatsuo Nomura and developed in cooperation between The Pokémon Company and Google, Pokémon would appear within Google Maps, which users could catch.

Another of PoGO’s core features, augmented reality, Nintendo had worked on with the Nintendo 3DS console back in 2011 (and in fact, a Pokémon game for the 3DS called Pokémon Dream Radar, uses AR along with the 3DS’s cameras to find and catch Pokémon, which could then be transferred to Pokémon Black 2 or White 2), but it was Niantic Inc’s real-world platform, Niantic Lightship, that served as the biggest focal point for augmented reality in PoGO. Tsunekazu Ishihara had begun playing Ingress, Niantic’s first real-world game, shortly after its release in 2012.

Ishihara felt that Ingress’s focus on exploration of environment and socialisation with other players was a philosophy that Pokémon shared as well (this, of course, harkens back to the original two-version concept of Pocket Monsters Red and Green, and the idea of players Trading Pokémon with each other), and was keen to get them onboard with the development of PoGO as well.

Lastly, Nintendo was brought onboard to assist with the development of hardware (such as the PoGO Plus, and Poké Ball Plus), as well as software integration (this would later be seen with Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, and Pokémon HOME).

The original core team of PoGO was a small one. Key staff of Game Freak, Creatures, Niantic, Google and Nintendo were involved, such as Satoru Iwata and Tsunekazu Ishihara (then-President of Nintendo and President of The Pokémon Company respectively, who came up with the original concept for the game), Junichi Masuda (a composer, director, and producer of the Pokémon core series at Game Freak. With PoGO, he worked on the setting, game design and music), Tatsuo Nomura (developer on Google Maps, and conceptualiser of several Google Maps April Fool’s Day Jokes, such as the 2014 Pokémon one. Nomura was given the role of Director for PoGO), John Hanke (CEO of Niantic. Previously worked on Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google StreetView, as well as Ingress), Dennis Hwang (graphic designer for Niantic. He previously worked on various logos for Google. He designed the logo, as well as various graphics for PoGO, as well as assisting Yusuke Kozaki with character design), Kazuhiro Maruyama (member of the Nintendo Platform Technology Development team. For PoGO, he helped work on the PoGO Plus and Poké Ball Plus. The Nintendo Platform Technology Development team is currently working on the PoGO Plus+), and Shigeru Miyamoto (key player at Nintendo, creator and producer of several of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, such as Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, Kirby, and Splatoon, among many, many others).

Other members of Game Freak and Creatures assisted with the compilation of the 3D Pokémon models previously used on the 3DS Pokémon titles, and part of Niantic’s Ingress team worked on importing and refitting Ingress’s location data for use in PoGO.

However, as is the case with many mobile games, development staff has changed as the game’s lifecycle has gone on. Junichi Masuda continues to contribute new music to the game, but has otherwise since been involved with the development of other core series Pokémon titles, such as Sun and Moon, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, and Sword and Shield. Otherwise, most of the rest of the original Niantic PoGO team has moved onto other projects within the company, such as Tatsuo Nomura, and a flurry of new staff have come and gone since then, contributing to many different aspects of the game.

The Pokémon Company however still has a heavy hand with the game. New gameplay features and ideas need to be approved by The Pokémon Company first before they can even be considered for implementation in PoGO, and The Pokémon Company will often use PoGO to cross-promote with different aspects of the franchise (such as the Detective Pikachu and New Pokémon Snap tie-in events, promoting the release of a movie and spin-off game respectively). Pokémon Company support staff also assist with problems users may have with PoGO Plus and Poké Ball Plus devices.

Conclusion / Personal Thoughts

PoGO stands as a unique Pokémon game, not only when looked at through the lens of Pokémon mobile games, but the Pokémon franchise as a whole. The idea of exploring a world, the real world, filled with Pokémon is right in-line with the themes of the original core series games, but instead of your character exploring a video game world, it’s you going out and exploring. I’m sure many Pokémon fans who played the core series games or watched the anime growing up dreamed of going on a real-life Pokémon adventure, and PoGO is probably as close as we’re going to get to living that dream.

There is no other Pokémon game like PoGO, but there are also many other Pokémon games outside of PoGO, and the franchise itself has existed for over twenty-five years. Yet, some GO-only players see PoGO as the be-all and end-all of the Pokémon franchise, or they otherwise have little to no interest in the rest of it. To me, I almost see this as ignorance, especially when GO-only players express their displeasure at the colour of certain Shiny Pokémon, or the viability of Legendries, not understanding that Niantic isn’t in charge of things like that, and that they are simply adapting Pokémon to fit within a framework which they started with Ingress.

If your only interest in the Pokémon franchise is PoGO, then, in my opinion,it should be for the things that make PoGO unique, such as the augmented reality and real-world location-based gameplay. I am exasperated by the number of comments I see online of people asking for features or changes to PoGO, where it effectively boils down so that what they want is a core series Pokémon title available on mobile devices for free that has every Pokémon ever available, with constant free updates. They want to just sit on their couch and catch Pokémon, when the entire concept and theme of PoGO is to go out and catch Pokémon in the real world. If you want to sit on your couch and catch Pokémon, you can do that with a Nintendo console and any of the core series games.

I might hear some people argue, “But I don’t have a Nintendo console!” or “I can’t afford a Switch!”, or say that my viewpoint is ableist or comes from a point of privilege. At a surface-level, I would understand that. I would even agree with you, especially when talking about buying a console and a video game. Those things cost money, and money is finite. But that entire argument falls apart at the realisation that Pokémon Masters EX exists, and is also available on mobile for free, just like PoGO. As is Pokémon Quest, and Pokémon: Magikarp Jump, Pokémon Shuffle, and plenty of other Pokémon mobile games. When I mention these games as alternatives to PoGO, as in, a free mobile Pokémon experience, I don’t usually get a response.

I look at PoGO as a conduit to the core series titles, which is, in actual fact, what PoGO was originally intended to be. The team even discussed this several times in interviews leading up to the release of PoGO. Before the game had even come out, they talked about three big features that would come to PoGO: Raid Battles, Trading, and connectivity with the core series games. That was always on the cards, and that was the only reason why I personally started playing PoGO in the first place, as I have little interest in Pokémon spin-off titles with no connection to the core series – if I can’t Trade or transfer anything over, I see it as time that could be better spent elsewhere.

That said, PoGO is great. It’s a different experience to the core series games, as it should be! I play PoGO when I’m out and about, and I play the core series games when I’m at home, and I bring everything together inside Pokémon HOME, which is what the original intention always was (well, not Pokémon HOME, but Pokémon Bank, Pokémon Sun and Moon, and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon include location index numbers for Pokémon obtained in PoGO, so the idea of players bringing their collection together into a unified system was always the intention. I assume it was just easier to develop a new application from the ground up with PoGO in mind, rather than porting Pokémon Bank from 3DS to Mobile and Switch, and tacking on PoGO connectivity).

TL; DR and Other Interesting Titbits

The Pokémon Company owns Pokémon. Niantic are the developers of PoGO, but the game was conceptualised and developed in cooperation with The Pokémon Company and its many partners. The Pokémon Company technically, at any point, could take back PoGO, and publish it under their own name and continue to support it, but they would relinquish the use of Niantic’s ‘real-world platform’ if they did, which is one of PoGO’s biggest strengths and key features, so they probably won’t ever do that.

2. How do the battle mechanics work in the core Pokémon series vs the GO universe (types, moves, items, etc). Go into as much detail and examples as you like! 🙂 

In terms of mechanics, the core series games, and PoGO are quite similar. It’s how the mechanics are implemented that’s different.

For example, I would consider the three core pillar Battle mechanics to be, the Type system, the IV system, and leveling. All three of those are present across both PoGO and the core series.

The Three Pillars of Pokémon Battles

The Type system, when broken down to its most basic element, is essentially ‘Rock-paper-scissors’. Each Pokémon possesses either one or two Types, and those Types will be strong or weak against certain other Types. The classic example of this is with the Starter Pokémon, which are always a Fire, Grass, or Water Type Pokémon respectively. Grass is ‘super effective’ against Water, but ‘not very effective’ against Fire. Whereas Water is ‘super effective’ against Fire, but ‘not very effective’ against Grass. Finally, Fire is ‘super effective’ against Grass, but ‘not very effective’ against Water. There are other, more complicated versions of this system, but this is it at its most straightforward. There are 18 Pokémon Types, as of this essay, and it’s important for Trainers to learn how these Types interact with each other should they wish to succeed in Battle, whether that be Trainer Battles, Gym Battles, Raid Battles or whatever.

IVs (Individual Values) are essentially a Pokémon’s genes. They determine whether a Pokémon will be inherently good or bad when it comes to certain stats. The higher a Pokémon’s IVs in a certain stat, the higher that stat can be. The lower a Pokémon’s IVs are, the lower their stats will be. It’s difficult to gauge overall, the difference between having ‘good’ IVs and ‘bad’ IVs, but if you take two Pokémon of the same Level, with the same moveset, one with high IVs and one with low IVs, the one with high IVs would win. That said, there are certain circumstances in which is it beneficial for a Pokémon to have low IVs. For example, the move Trick Room reverses priority so that Pokémon with the lowest Speed stat will attack first. In this case, if you’re running a Pokémon with Trick Room, you want some (maybe not all) members of your team to have as low a Speed stat as possible, and one way of doing that is having a Pokémon with low Speed IVs.

Levelling is the most straightforward and is similar to most other role-playing games: the higher the number, the ‘better’ you are. In the case of Pokémon, the bigger the number, the stronger the Pokémon. As is the case with most other RPGs with a Levelling system, levelling is simulated progression: you yourself aren’t actually improving, your Pokémon’s numbers are just getting bigger. In the core series games, Pokémon ‘Level Up’ through participating in Battles, either with Wild Pokémon or against other Trainers, or by feeding them EXP/Rare Candies. In PoGO, Pokémon ‘Power Up’ by being fed Stardust and species-specific Candy.

With PoGO especially, specifically in regard to the Levelling system, there is technically no ‘skill’ in ‘Powering Up’ a Pokémon, and the player doesn’t really improve in any way. The improvement comes from a player’s understanding of the rest of the Battle system, and being able to either outthink / outplay or overpower the opponent. A player’s knowledge of the Type system and IVs will generally serve them better than an opponent who has no idea of either, and just thinks ‘big number means better Pokémon’, for example.

Pokémon Battles in the Core Series

Talking specifically about the core series games for a moment, most of its strategy, the true depth to its combat system, taking into account things like Abilities (an innate effect a Pokémon has. For example, a Geodude with the ‘Sturdy’ Ability cannot be fainted by a single attack from full health. Geodude would instead be left with 1 HP), EVs (or Effort Values, additional increases to stats that Pokémon can obtain through Battling and defeating a specific species of Pokémon. For example, the ‘Effort Value yield’ of a Pidgey is 1 Speed EV. 4 EVs equals 1 additional point in that stat, so defeating four Pidgey would earn that Pokémon one additional point in its Speed stat. A Pokémon cannot exceed 252 EVs per each individual stat, and cannot exceed a total of 510 EVs overall), Held Items (an Item a Pokémon may hold during Battle, causing various effects. For example, the ‘Leftovers’ item restores a portion of the Pokémon’s HP at the end of every turn), Natures (how the stats of a Pokémon grow. Most Natures increase one stat of a Pokémon by 10% while also decreasing another stat by 10%, however some Natures offer no stat enhancement or reduction. Having a Pokémon with the right Nature can mean the difference between winning and losing against an otherwise identical Pokémon of the same species), Moves (Physical versus Special, Moves that do damage versus Moves that cause status conditions), Move Effects (inflicting Status conditions, buffing or de-buffing a Pokémon’s stats), Types (both the Types of Moves and Types of Pokémon) etc. can really only be found in its fullest extent in competitive Battles with friends, ‘extracurricular’ Battles at special Battle facilities (such as the Battle Tower), or by participating in official competitive events (such as the Video Game Championships aka VGC, which are the officially-sanctioned Pokémon World Championships put together by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company).

There’s a lot that goes into competitive Battles (and everything I’ve just listed is only scratching the surface), which is probably why that sort of Battling in the core series games, in terms of single player content, is usually relegated to the postgame. Otherwise, in terms of the single player adventure and story Battles of the core series games, most Trainers will use Pokémon with rather basic movesets, no Hold Items, neutral Natures, and 0 EVs and IVs. There are of course some exceptions to this, such as the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, whose Pokémon all have 31 Perfect IVs across a team with fantastic synergy and Type coverage, but these exceptions are few and far between when looked at through the overall scope of AI Trainers throughout the single player adventure and story.

As such, when it comes to the single player story Battles / Battles against AI Trainers in the core series games, the most dominant strategy is simply to use a Pokémon with a Move that is super-effective against whatever Pokémon that trainer is using. For example, in Pokémon Red and Blue, Cerulean Gym Leader Misty uses two Pokémon for the Gym Battle: Staryu and Starmie – both Water Type Pokémon. If you choose Bulbasaur as your Starter Pokémon, or catch a Pikachu in Viridian Forest, you can easily cheese the Battle simply by using either Pokémon, as both Grass and Electric Type Moves are super-effective against Water Type Pokémon. Regardless of your Pokémon’s IVs, as long as your Pokémon are around the same Level as hers, and you have access to a Move that can deal super-effective damage, you’ll probably win.

Now, that is just an example, and there are exceptions (the Generation I games are notoriously buggy when it comes to enemy Trainer AI), but overall, this sentiment is carried across all of the core series games. That’s not even getting to perhaps one of the biggest differences between single player and multiplayer Trainer Battles.

In single player Battles, outside of extracurricular Battle Facilities, players have the option between two different ‘Battle styles’: Shift or Set. If the Battle style is set to ‘Shift’, the player is given the option to not only recall their Pokémon after a successful K.O, but they also receive information about what Pokémon the opponent is going to send out next. Going back to our earlier example of a Gym Battle with Misty, let’s say you chose Charmander as your Starter Pokémon. Fire versus Water is a bad matchup, but you also managed to catch a Pikachu in Viridian Forest. You send out Charmander because that’s the Pokémon at the top of your Party, and manage to get lucky with the Normal Type Move Rage, knowing that using a Fire Type Move, like Ember, against Staryu is not advisable.

Your Charmander manages to faint Misty’s Staryu, then you are told “Misty is about to use Starmie! Will (Player) change Pokémon?” and are given the option to recall Charmander and send out Pikachu in its place, putting you at an immediate advantage.

However, if the Battle style is set to ‘Set’, you are given no such advantage. You are not afforded any additional knowledge about your opponent’s Pokémon, nor are you given the option of switching the Pokémon you currently have out on the field with another one in your Party for free.

While you can, at the beginning of your turn, switch the Pokémon on the field with another one from your Party, doing so will cost you that turn of being able to use a Move, which isn’t the case with the ‘Shift’ style after a K.O. With the ‘Set’ style, this introduces a ‘risk versus reward’ aspect where, especially in multiplayer Battles with other human Trainers, players can play mind games with each other, trying to predict if or when the other player is going to switch out their Pokémon.

This sort of mind game element on top of the already present Trainer Battle gameplay is woefully non-existent in single player story Battles, as enemy AI Trainers will rarely, if ever, switch out their Pokémon on the field. As such, players moving from participating in single player story Battles and into either the postgame Battle Facilities or competitive multiplayer Battles will be in for a rude awaking, as all of these other systems (EVs, IVs, Hold Items, Natures etc.) rear their head for the first time.

While it certainly adds almost endless depth to the Battle system and the strategies players can use, there’s also the problem of barrier of entry. Due to the fact that players are not required to even have any knowledge of things like EVs and IVs to beat the single player story, they might be completely unaware of how important these elements are. They might look back at the team they used to make it through the main story and realise that, while their Pokémon might be high Level and they might have decent moves, their IVs are bad, their Natures are bad, and their EVs are all over the place, and in that case, they might get discouraged and not want to make that next step, and might even stop playing altogether.

Thankfully these days, the core series games have introduced various quality-of-life improvements to make it easier for players to train up Battle-ready competitive Pokémon. ‘Super Training’ allows you to ‘minmax’ a Pokémon’s EVs, ‘Hyper Training’ gives Level 100 Pokémon the appearance of having Perfect 31 IVs in Battle, and Nature Mints likewise give a Pokémon the appearance of having that Nature in Battle (eg: an Adamant Mint will give a Pokémon that eats it the stat changes of an Adamant Nature, rather than whatever Nature the Pokémon actually has). Additionally, Abilities can be changed through the use of Ability Capsules and Ability Patches (to change regular and Hidden Abilities respectively). And lastly, EXP Candy allows players to Level their Pokémon all the way up to Level 100, depending on how much EXP Candy you feed it, without it technically needing to have fought in any Battles.

That said, competitive Battling in the core series games is not for everyone. A wealth of knowledge is required, not only of Type advantages and disadvantages, but also which Pokémon naturally excel in which roles (glass cannon, setup, tank etc.), what the ideal EV and IV spreads are, to say nothing of the aspects of the metagame which are constantly shifting, such as Pokémon getting access to new Moves and Abilities (sometimes also losing access to certain Moves and Abilities throughout the Generations), new gimmicks like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamax and Gigantamax, as well as, of course, the new Pokémon and new Hold Items that are introduced with every Generation.

You almost need an encyclopædic knowledge of it all, and some players just might not be interested in that, regardless of if they have the skill or time to participate in competitive Battles, and that’s fine. One of the great things about Pokémon is all the different aspects the core series games have. Some players just like to play through the single player story, beat the Champion, and put the game down once the credits roll. Others like to Battle with or against their friends, Trade Pokémon to complete the Pokédex, take part in extracurricular stuff like Pokémon Contests, the Pokéathlon, filmmaking at Pokéstar Studios, making Trainer PR Videos, and so much more across the core series games.

Players don’t have to involve themselves with competitive Battling if they don’t want to. It’s an entirely optional thing, and no main story progress is ever locked behind it. The unfortunate thing because of this is that when most people think of Pokémon’s core series Battle system, they think of the much more lax and forgiving system found in the main single player adventure, and assume that there is no depth to the Battle system, when that could not be further from the truth.

Pokémon Battles in PoGO

There are actually two different Battle systems used for Battles in PoGO. There’s the Battle system used when participating in Gym or Raid Battles, and then there’s the Battle system used when participating in Trainer Battles.

Both Battle systems are fairly similar (unlike the core series games, which use a turn-based Battle system, PoGO’s Battle systems use a real-time system. To attack, you tap an empty part of the screen to use a Pokémon’s Fast Attack, or on the Type icon to use that Pokémon’s Charged Attack), but both have unique gameplay elements to set them apart from each other.

For instance, in Gym and Raid Battles, Battles aren’t one-on-one. You can team up with a group of Trainers (twenty players altogether for Raid Battles, though I can’t find confirmation on the maximum number of players for Gym Battles) and effectively take down Pokémon in a war of attrition (alternatively, you can also send in one Battle Team – six Pokémon, at a time, and send another one in and/or heal up and re-join the Battle as long as the Battle timer is still active. You can do this if you’re Battling alone or with other players). Whether it be a Gym or Raid Battle, the enemy Pokémon is AI-controlled, and attacks on a timer, using a Fast Attack at regular intervals, or a Charged Attack if they have enough Energy. You can swipe left or right across the screen to make your Pokémon dodge the opponent’s attacks (which, if successful, reduces the damage you’d take from that attack by 75%), or tap the switch option to bring up your Battle Team, letting you replace the Pokémon you have out on the field with another one from your Battle Team.

As your Pokémon faint, they are replaced by the next Pokémon in your Battle Team. Once your entire Battle Team has fainted, you can heal up your team using Revives and Potions and send them in again, or send in a completely new Battle Team for the Battle. Raid Battles continue as long as there is still time left on the timer, and there is at least one player in Battle or in the lobby. In a Raid Battle, you Battle against one super-powered Pokémon, whereas in a Gym Battle, you Battle against up to six AI-controlled versions of Pokémon that other Trainers have placed there, which you might have to Battle several times to reduce their CP to zero.

As for Trainer Battles, they are strictly one-on-one. You don’t have any friends or support, it’s just you versus another Trainer (either a friend, stranger, Team Leader, or GO Rocket member). For Trainer Battles, your Battle Team can consist of up to three Pokémon, and the Trainer Battle system follows a similar ‘tap to attack’ structure as the system used for Gym and Raid Battles, though there are a few differences.

The first being the inability to dodge. Instead, both Trainers have access to two Protect Shields (based on the Move Protect from the core series games) which are utilised in a call-and-response system. When you gather up enough Charge Energy to use a Charged Attack, the attacking player will have to perform a quick minigame (which basically boils down to swiping away Type icons on the screen, though the direction, number and pattern are different depending on the Type of Charged Move). How successful the attacking player is at this minigame will determine the amount of damage the Charged Attack can do, up to the maximum amount of Attack applicable for that Move.

The defending player on the other hand, at the same time as the attacking player completing their minigame, is given the option of using one of their Protect Shields (if they have one. If they don’t have one, they simply have to wait for the attacking player to finish their minigame, the attack to go through, damage to be calculated, and the Battle resuming). The defending player is never required to use a Protect Shield, so there is a lot of strategy there, risk versus reward, do I use a Protect Shield on their Charged Move even though I don’t know what Type the move is or how much damage it does? You might use up a Protect Shield, only for the attacking opponent to have deliberately failed the minigame, dealing you zero damage, but getting you to waste your Protect Shield anyway, because you think they’re coming at you with a fully-charged Hyper Beam. And if the opponent has two Charged Moves, which one are they going to use? They might be Moves of different Types, baiting you into wasting a Protect Shield on a Move they know is ‘not very effective’.

This, in theory, is an absolutely fantastic system. Though, one that technically isn’t unique to PoGO, as it already existed in the core series games through Moves like Protect before PoGO implemented it.

The second difference is player access to information.

Let me explain:

When preparing for a Gym or Raid Battle, you typically know beforehand the Type of Pokémon you’ll be fighting against, since you can see the enemy Pokémon in the Gym. That lets you tailor a Battle Team specifically for that Battle. If you know you’re going up against Mewtwo in a Raid, then you’ll pack your Battle Team with Bug, Ghost and Dark Type Pokémon, since Psychic Pokémon are weak to those Types, and Mewtwo is a Psychic Type (again, this goes back to knowledge and player implementation of the Battle mechanics).

In a Trainer Battle however, you don’t get to see what Pokémon your opponent is using before the Battle. Now, if you’re facing off against a Team Leader or member of Team GO Rocket, you can make some assumptions, but against real players, you’re on your own.

This is in stark contrast to the core series games, which, since Generation V have introduced a feature called ‘Team Preview’ where both players get to look at what Pokémon the other player is using before the Battle (not the Moves or stats or anything, just the Pokémon). From this, players can actually select the order of which of their Pokémon get sent into Battle first, and (in 3v3 or 4v4 format, which don’t use all six Pokémon) might even throw a couple deadweight Pokémon onto their team just to throw the opponent off by making them think they’ll be bringing in a Pokémon they were never going to.

In PoGO, you have no idea what you’re going up against, and only being able to bring in three Pokémon (and not being able to re-sort the order at that) means a lot of tough decisions have to be made on the fly.

I don’t want to say that this approach is better or worse than the core series games, because they both have merits to their approach, in theory.

However, in practice for PoGO, this mechanic essentially boils Battles down to ‘pick the best, strongest Legendary Pokémon you have’, and Legendary Pokémon, due to having higher base stat totals, are easily stronger than most other Pokémon.

Now, this makes PoGO’s Battle system look, quite frankly, terrible. But it’s not a problem unique to itself. The core series has this issue too, mitigated by official rulesets such as VGC, and independent rulesets like Smogon. PoGO too has its own version of this by way of Niantic’s ‘League’ system, which limits which Pokémon can be used based on its CP (Great League has a CP cap of 1500, Ultra League has a CP cap of 2500, and Master League has no CP cap).

Once again, in theory, this is great. Due to how CP is formulated in PoGO, based on stats and not just Level, a lot of Pokémon that you would never think of using in competitive Battles are given a chance to be viable.

However, once again, in practice, this leaves a lot to be desired. Due to the way that the CP formula is weighted, Attack IVs are worth more CP than either Defence IVs or Health IVs, so some players aim to hunt for Pokémon with as low Attack IVs as they can get, with higher IVs in other areas just to squeeze ‘x Pokémon’ right under the CP cap for a League in which it would otherwise be ineligible to enter.

This is, in fact, a huge problem. Now, you might argue that I’m being unfair and biased against PoGO, when the core series also has the same sort of thing with Trick Room, like I mentioned earlier, which is where you’d want a Pokémon with zero Speed IVs (or as low as possible).

But Trick Room is one Move, out of hundreds. It doesn’t dictate the way in which an entire tier system is run, whereas with the way PoGO’s League system limits CP (and how that CP is calculated in PoGO), that is the entire system. The entire ‘competitive’ PoGO Trainer Battle experience is antithetical to what IVs are, and players are, to put it bluntly, basically playing (or being taught to play) Pokémon wrong.

The Ultimate Failing of PoGO’s Battle System

Even with all this though, it would be wrong to say there isn’t skill or strategy when it comes to PoGO Trainer Battles. There certainly is (such as knowing when to use a Protect Shield, when to switch out your Pokémon, baiting your opponent into switching, farming Charge Energy to stack consecutive Charge Attacks. It’s a simple system, and again, this goes back to what I was saying about artificial improvement like Leveling versus natural improvement like obtaining knowledge of the Battle systems, and there’s plenty of depth to it too), it’s just there is unfortunately one core issue, the ‘ultimate failing’, that makes any and all skill and strategy a player may use, or any knowledge a player may have about the Battle system during a Battle completely obsolete.

Forget about CP caps and Leagues, forget about Stardust and Candy investment. Hell, forget about Type matchups. None of that matters, because only one thing does:

Lag.

Let me give you an example:

Right at the outset of a Battle, you don’t know the other player’s connection type or strength. You could be playing on the best, fastest Wi-Fi speed to ever exist, and your opponent could be playing on 3G with choppy signal and battery / power saver options on, or vice-versa.

This wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that Trainer Battles in PoGO are mostly real-time. You could experience a delay in tapping the screen to use a Fast Attack, to the attack animation playing, to the Fast Attack going off, to the damage being calculated / any other added effects (such as a stat increase or decrease), to the Pokémon fainting.

At any point, during any of these moments, there could be lag, and as a player, that could throw off your entire momentum for the Battle. You could be tanking hits with Melmetal, trying to gather energy for Charged Attacks, your plan being that you want to build up enough energy, so that you can then switch out and save the Charged Attacks for later to get rid of your opponent’s Protect Shields.

You’re down to the wire, your Melmetal’s HP is low, and you go to switch out.

But there’s lag.

Your Melmetal remains out, takes another Fast Attack and faints.

Your entire strategy was predicated on being able to pull this off, but now you can’t, so you’ve effectively lost the Battle, all because of lag.

That’s quite a specific example, I know, so I’ll give you another one by simply asking this:

“How many times have you seen your opponent use three Protect Shields?”

The answer, of course, should be “Never”, but that’s probably not the case. I’m sure you’ve Battled against friends or players through the GO Battle League that have been able to pull off some weird and wacky things that, by all rights, should be impossible. You’re only supposed to be able to use two Protect Shields, after all!

Again, it is just simply, lag. That is the one glaring flaw in PoGO’s Battle system, and the one blemish that, in my opinion, should it never be fixed, will prevent it from truly being the competitive PvP mode that players and even Niantic would like it to be.

For instance, playing Street Fighter either against the computer or a friend locally, versus playing Street Fighter against another player online, if there’s even one millisecond of lag, that can throw off your entire strategy and change the course of the entire match. It’s the same with PoGO’s Battle system, either in Gym Battles, Raid Battles, or Trainer Battles. The slightest bit of lag can make you lose, and it’s one thing to lose a Battle because you were outplayed, outsmarted, or overpowered, but it’s another thing entirely to lose because of circumstances completely outside of your control.

Some of this can be ‘mitigated’ for Gym and Raid Battles – since those Battles are against AI, lag isn’t as much of an issue as it is against other human players. And again, war of attrition. You can easily make up the deficit. In Battles with twenty players, as long as you manage to stay connected, you’ll be able to win if everyone else is pulling their weight.

But that’s not the case at all with Trainer Battles. In a real-time system, a one-on-one Battle, where you have no one else to pick up the slack, every millisecond of delay can impact the flow of the Battle. Whether it be a ‘local’ Battle against a friend, or going up against a random opponent in GO Battle League, an unfortunate quandary is that, because the game is effectively an MMO, needing to have constant access to Niantic’s server to function, you won’t be getting better connection if you’re Battling your friend in-person versus a stranger from another country. PoGO doesn’t switch to local wireless or Bluetooth to connect to a friend if you’re nearby; you’re still connected via your Wi-Fi (or 3G or 4G) to Niantic’s PoGO server, along with your friend.

And so is everyone else.

Now, I’ve been ragging on PoGO pretty hard with this, I know, so let me just say, this isn’t PoGO’s fault. This is Niantic’s fault for trying to incorporate a Battle system which, by PoGO’s very nature, is impossible to manage.

You have tens of thousands of players, all playing at the same time, in the same ‘world’, all their actions synchronous, needing to happen in their game, get thrown up to the server, thrown back down and reflected in everyone else’s game, of course you’re going to have problems! That’s a Herculean task, and why you see MMOs tend to segregate players by server, while other types of online games segregate either through connection strength / type or real-world geographic location.

One of the benefits of a turn-based Battle system, like what the core series games have, is exactly this. There might be lag, but it doesn’t negatively impact on a player’s decision-making, or the way they play the game, whereas with PoGO, you almost need to rewire your brain when Battling another human player versus an AI opponent. You have to pre-empt the lag.

This is obviously easier said than done, but really, if you want PoGO Trainer Battles to be good, fix the lag! It’s that simple (obviously it’s not, but if Niantic wants to push PvP as a big part of PoGO, they need to fix the lag). As it stands right now, the GO Battle League, or even just the idea that PoGO Trainer Battles can be legitimately competitive, is utterly ridiculous. Due to the fact that PoGO uses a real-time Battle system and is played on mobile devices with differing connection types, lag is an unfortunate inevitability that may unfairly sway the entire direction of a Battle, and this needs to be fixed.

There’s something to be said when AI Trainer Battles against the Team Leaders or GO Rocket Admins work better than Trainer Battles against actual human players do.

The bottom line is, you don’t want to lose a Battle when you feel like you’ve done nothing wrong, but unless Niantic changes the Trainer Battle system, more often than not, you will.

Personal Thoughts

In my opinion, PoGO never should have gotten Trainer Battles. It didn’t need them. Gym Battles and Raid Battles were enough. They fitted the context and theme of the game better, which was about cooperation. As much as it would be easy and strawman-y for me to say “If you want to have a ‘real’ Pokémon Battle, play the core series games”, it’s true.

PoGO was never meant to be this insulated PvP experience. PoGO was different. It could still be competitive with things like Gym control and Pokédex completion, but it was much more about that cooperative, communal effort. The appeal of PoGO was going out on these real-world adventures, catching Pokémon, and working together with your friends.

The introduction of Trainer Battles into PoGO seemed to separate the audience into ‘casual’ and ‘hardcore’ players, at least according to the PvP community, (which I find interesting, because Niantic staff have even said at game developer conferences that they consider all players of PoGO, at least as far as the core series Pokémon games are concerned, to be casual players overall), to the point where you now have players flexing their droves of Level 50 Battle-ready Legendaries or Great League Azumarill or what-have-you, and looking down dismissively on other players if they don’t care about GO Battle League. Never mind the fact that the PoGO Trainer Battle system is fundamentally broken.

Again, to circle back to the beginning of this Essay, it’s not skilful having a Level 50 Mewtwo with two Charged Moves. All that is, is an investment of Candy and Stardust. It technically doesn’t require any skill, because all you’re doing is tapping the ‘Power Up’ button until your Pokémon is maxed out. Levelling is simulated progression; it is not reflective of your actual skill as a player.

If, however, you managed to obtain that Mewtwo through a solo or duo Raid Battle, getting by on the selection of Pokémon that you have, using your knowledge of the Type system and appropriate counters, that is skilful – as opposed to many players who might get by on numbers, spam Golden Razz Berries, and then dump all their Rare Candy and Stardust into the Pokémon.

But it’s difficult to be able to qualify that, and you could argue that catching a Pokémon isn’t skilful either, since having the opportunity to catch the Pokémon (in this case, having a Gym in your vicinity, that Gym getting a Raid Egg, and that Raid Egg hatching into a Legendary) is RNG, since that’s not something you as a player have any control over.

This could, of course, get into a whole thing about privilege (of location – city versus suburbia versus rural, and how a player’s location effects their gameplay), but that’s an entirely other kettle of Feebas, so I’ll just end this Essay here by personally saying that, while I believe there is merit to the Battle systems in PoGO, the implementation of Trainer Battles was poor and has impacted PoGO for the worse.

And if you want to have a ‘real’ Pokémon Battle, play the core series games.

3. The society/politics of the Pokémon universe. The anime, the games, etc. just the general concept of how the World of Pokémon operates.

Before we get into how the Pokémon world operates, we have to talk a little bit about Earth Drift.

Earth Drift

Earth Drift is a trope that refers to when a work tangentially takes place on real-world Earth (or at the very least in the real world), but then as the series progresses, loses more and more of those real-world elements as time goes on.

Pokémon is rife with Earth Drift, both in the core series games and the anime. In its beginning, Pokémon did, for all intents and purposes, take place on our real-world Earth. The most obvious example of this is the Kanto Region, which is based on the Kanto region of real-world Japan in terms of appearance. However, there’s so much more.

In Pokémon Red and Blue, Lieutenant Surge is referred to as “The Lightning American”, a model of Space Shuttle Columbia is displayed at the Pewter Museum, the jungles of Guyana and the Settlement of Tiksi are referred to by diary entries and Team Rocket respectively. Arcanine’s Pokédex entries for Pokémon Yellow and PoGOld refer to it being known as a Legendary Pokémon in China. Gastly and Raichu’s Pokedex entries from Pocket Monsters Red and Green refer to them both being able to capacitate an Indian elephant.

This is just barely scratching the surface, and I could go on and on about what Pokémon used to have, but the important thing is that, at one point, Pokémon took place in our world, and then in the next, it didn’t.

So, let’s separate the sections into ‘pre-Earth Drift’ (i.e. how the old-school super-classic Planet-Earth-with-Pokémon-on-it operates), and ‘post-Earth Drift’ (i.e. how the present day Pokémon World operates).

The Old Pokémon World, Pre-Earth Drift

In terms of society and politics, due to the fact that this is real-world Planet Earth, their society and politics would be the same as ours, just maybe with more Pokémon. Like, Queen Elizabeth II would have three Yamper instead of two corgis and one dorgi.

In terms of history, “it is said that [Pokémon] first appeared some two million years ago. The first systematic study of Pokémon was undertaken in the late 18^th Century by a French author, Baron Tajirin. At the time, only thirty species had been discovered”, among them were species like Charizard and Vaporeon.

“Nevertheless, the detailed [information] and sketches left by Baron Tajirin became the foundations for study thereafter. From France, research into Pokémon spread throughout Western Europe to include England, Germany, Spain, and Italy.”

“In line with the incredible progress of transportation technology, the academic movement found a home in Japan at the end of the 19^th Century. Professor Westwood is said to be the father of Pokémon studies in [Japan]. In 1899, he published the paper [entitled] ‘An Observation on the Evolution of Pikachu’.”

“It described how two Pokémon – which had been thought to be two entirely different creatures – were actually the same. One was simply the Evolved form. As a result of this breakthrough, Pokémon research entered a new phase of discovery, earning Professor Westwood worldwide recognition.”

“Because of his paper, Japan came to be known as a leader in the study of Pokémon. Incidentally, eighty Pokémon species had been discovered by then. As of 1996 [the release year of Pocket Monsters Red and Green], thanks to the investigative and research efforts of Professor [Samuel] Oak, one-hundred-and-fifty species of Pokémon have been discovered.”

Other researchers in the field of Pokémon have since discovered countless other species of Pokémon existing all around the world. As of the writing of this Essay, looking at it from an ‘in-universe’ perspective, over eight-hundred-and-ninety species of Pokémon have been discovered.

That effectively brings us up to the present day. Aside from this, all real-world countries exist, along with their respective histories and Religions (as we know from respective Buddhist and Christian imagery from the anime, though certain species of Pokémon may be confused with, or considered as being a God-like or mythical deity, such as Arcanine being a Shisa – Chinese guardian lion, and Ninetales being a Kitsune – a nine-tailed fox. Or it could in fact be the opposite, that what we know as Shisa and Kitsune and all those sorts of historic, mythological creatures, are simply different species of Pokémon).

The New Pokémon World, Post-Earth Drift

In the beginning, there was nothing but an Egg. That Egg hatched into Arceus, the Original One. Arceus created concepts, elements, embodiments, and the creatures to rule over, represent and administer their powers (basically all other Legendary Pokémon).

Finally, Arceus created Mew, the common ancestor of what humans would later call ‘Pokémon’, as well as humans themselves. They flooded the Planet and thrived, appearing before each other in times of need. Regions were formed and named, cultures and cities created, and the Pokémon world was ‘born’.

The biggest difference between this ‘new’ Pokémon world and the old, is that new Pokémon are never really ‘discovered’ in this new version. They are shown to have always existed. We see this retroactive continuity constantly in the core series games. An NPC in Red and Green states there are “over 100 Pokémon in the world” (at the time of Generation I’s 151 Pokémon), whereas that same NPC in FireRed and LeafGreen states there are “over 100 Pokémon in the Kanto region” (at the time of Generation III’s 386 Pokémon).

The anime does this as well. The Kanto season contained mostly Generation I Pokémon, then, in the Hoenn season, when Ash and his friends returned to Kanto for the Battle Frontier, Generation II and III Pokémon were shown, just existing in Kanto, with absolutely no fanfare. Flashbacks to the prehistoric and ancient past will always include new Fossil Pokémon from whichever Generation the flashback takes place in, but where were those Pokémon in prehistoric flashbacks in Generation I?

Of course, the obvious answer to this is that the artists, designers and writers hadn’t come up with the new Pokémon yet, but in-universe these are not new Pokémon. In-universe, these Pokémon have always existed.

There are, of course, a few exceptions. Mewtwo, for example, is a created Pokémon, its basis coming from Mew. It is technically a new Pokémon. Entei, Raikou, and Suicune were ‘born’ when Ho-Oh restored the lives of three Pokémon who had perished in the fire at Brass Tower. Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem used to co-exist as a singular Pokémon in the ancient past before splitting into three separate entities. Type: Null was specifically modelled after Arceus, designed to be an ‘Ultra Beast killer’. These are Pokémon that cannot have always existed, but these examples are few and far between.

Pokémon Society

The society of the Pokémon World is very similar to our own real-world society. One of the key differences being in that humans are simply more predisposed to help each other, especially as the technology surrounding the core series games has developed.

Game Freak staff have said that the reason why Rival characters were “more of a jerk” in the early years is because “with the pixel graphics,” they were “limited in what [they] could express”. “Because it’s just dialogue and there’s not a whole lot going on, on the screen, it doesn’t give as harsh of an impression.” “Now we have HD graphics, and the visuals are much more impressive. If you also made him a jerk, the impression would be a lot stronger on players.”

Even aside from rivals, most other NPCs and characters in the Pokémon anime freely offer advice and assistance. It’s an easy joke to make, but people in the Pokémon universe are so at peace, they can all leave their doors unlocked, and strangers can walk in and it’s fine. Because it is. People are just nicer. There is no threat of direct child endangerment. In core series games, whenever you go up against members of an evil team, despite them all being older than your player character, and therefore technically being capable of physically overpowering you if they wanted to, they don’t. They leave it up to a Pokémon Battle, and if you win, the worst they do is tell you to get lost.

This is a personal anecdote to lead me into my next point, but I had an interesting conversation with someone around the release of New Pokémon Snap. My friend asked if I was excited for the game’s release, and I said I wasn’t, purely because of my own, admittedly surface-level, reason of not caring about spin-off titles if they can’t connect to core series games. While my friend said they were looking forward to New Pokémon Snap, and they thought it looked good because you, as a player, were simply taking photographs of Pokémon, rather than forcing them to fight and then enslaving them.

This is a very interesting point, because, while it is a very surface-level observation and criticism one can levy against Pokémon, it’s also one the series has addressed. Pokémon Black and White’s story was all about truths versus ideals. The games’ evil team, Team Plasma, purportedly fought for the liberation of Pokémon, travelling across the Unova Region to preach to its citizens to release their Pokémon back into the wild, saying that “Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers”, and ideally, they would be better off if Trainers let them return to the wild.

However in truth, Team Plasma’s Leader, Ghetsis in fact only wanted everyone else to release their Pokémon. He would then be the only one left with Pokémon under his control, and he would be able to rule Unova with an iron fist.

It’s a very interesting theme that Black and White tackled, as it seemed to confront the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of humans enslaving Pokémon and forcing them to Battle (like dogfighting). Ghetsis aside, most of Team Plasma genuinely wants to help Pokémon, and sees humanity (themselves included) as evil for exploiting Pokémon and uprooting them from their homes.

And they’d be right, except for the fact that all other evidence in the franchise says otherwise.

Outside of the story’s context, Junichi Masuda of Game Freak has said that “it’s very comfortable inside of a Poké Ball, it’s a very comfortable environment. Maybe the equivalent of a high-end suite room in a fancy hotel”. Pokémon are never shown to die in Battles, they just faint. Pokémon that are deposited into the PC experience full consciousness and control in their own localised environments (as shown in My Pokémon Ranch, and the Poké Pelago in Pokémon Sun and Moon, and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon).

Basically, the core series has gone out if its way to say “No, Pokémon are fine! Everything’s okay! Don’t worry!” because, yes, animal abuse and enslavement and mistreatment and all that stuff, that stuff does exist, and it’s a problem, but it’s not what Pokémon is about.

We see in the anime how kind and considerate most Trainers are with their Pokémon. Ash, the main character, is constantly shown not only caring for his own Pokémon, but for other Trainers’ Pokémon as well. He’s shown befriending Pokémon multiple times before the Pokémon themselves ‘allow’ Ash the opportunity to catch them. Pokémon are also shown to be able to freely leave their Poké Balls whenever they want, of their own free will. Most Trainers, in fact, are shown not to treat Pokémon as pets or slaves, but as friends.

Of course, I say most, because there are always exceptions. Characters like Paul, Cross, and Lusamine in the anime, movies, and core series respectively are shown mistreating their Pokémon. However, these situations are always shown in an intensely negative light, and other characters always react with shock and horror. The audience is positioned to, maybe not hate them, but certainly not like them for abusing and mistreating their Pokémon.

The intention is that we as players, or the audience, won’t be like ‘those’ people, and that we would treat our Pokémon (and each other) with love and respect, because everyone deserves that.

Other Titbits

One last thing I’ll mention briefly is that, even post-Earth Drift, the Pokédex still uses animal classifications for some of the Pokédex categories. For example, Pidgey, Spearow, Natu, and Rookidee all share the classification of ‘Tiny Bird Pokémon’. But what is a bird? A bird is an animal, not a Pokémon. Do you know what I mean?

There’s nothing really to say about this. I just find it interesting that, despite no longer referencing real-world animals in the Pokédex, the Pokédex still uses animal classifications.

4. The best Pokémon romance for Ash, or if there are any other romantic pairings in the game series, please include those too!

Now, before this Essay begins, just a heads-up: this one will discuss relationships of fictional characters, specifically underage fictional characters. There is a certain amount of detachment required when talking about this sort of thing. At the end of the day, these characters do not exist. They’re not real, and none of this matters, even within the context of the Pokémon anime.

Secondly, if you’re not a fan of character relationships, or Shipping, please skip this Essay.

And finally, since Shipping is a very personal thing, this is going to be a very personal Essay. Unlike the other Essays where I try to leave my thoughts and perspective on the topic to the end, my opinions will be interspersed throughout the Essay.

Now, it’s important to note that romance usually isn’t something given a lot of focus in Kodomo anime, and this is especially the case with Pokémon. The Pokémon anime tends to focus more on the titular Pokémon characters, and if a human character is given focus, it’s usually Ash, given that he is the main character.

It has actually been confirmed by one of the former writers and directors of the Pokémon anime, Masamitsu Hidaka, that the reason that Ash gets a new female companion every Region is two-fold. One, to promote the current core series games (this is important, I’ll be coming back to this), and two, because girls are “more customisable” (think about how many times we get an irrelevant beach episode in the anime, and how many gratuitous shots of the female characters in bathing suits that we get with each one).

Anyway, the topic is “The Best Pokémon Romance For Ash”, so let’s go through the most likely candidates in order of introduction, and why they would (or wouldn’t) be good for Ash:

Misty is okay, honestly. She’s not good, she’s not bad. I think the biggest thing in support for her is nostalgia. She’s one third of ‘the original trio’. When most older Pokémon fans think of the Pokémon anime, they think of Ash, Misty and Brock. That’s really it. She clashes with Ash quite a lot during Kanto, and develops a habit of pulling Brock away from whichever girl he’s hitting on. She’s also quite physical, physically hurting, slapping or smacking the two around whenever they do something she doesn’t like (this is especially the case in the series’ early run), but what’s interesting to note is that, in the Japanese version, she was given quite a lot back, often the victim of a lot more slapstick and putdowns, even getting smacked herself a few times by both Ash and Brock for some of the comments she makes.

In the case of the English Dub, a lot of these moments are either toned down, removed outright, or their context changed, making Misty come out looking better than she does compared to the Japanese version. The English Dub also added the idea of a crush / ‘will they or won’t they’ between Ash and Misty, which isn’t that present in the Japanese version, or at least, nowhere near to the same extent. A lot of lines are replaced to make Misty adapt a ‘Tsundere’-esk archetype, and we can’t forget ‘Misty’s Song’, a song that details how Misty wishes she could tell Ash how much she loves him, but is “afraid that [he] might break [her] heart” and reject her.

So no, I don’t think that Misty is the best for Ash. They bicker too much, and the only ‘substance’ to their ‘relationship’ was added to the English Dub when there otherwise wasn’t really anything there originally.

I’ll be grouping May and Dawn together, since both characters serve similar roles. Despite their differing personalities and starting points, they both end up at a similar goal, as Pokémon Contest Coordinators. In the beginning, May doesn’t really care about Pokémon, only thinking of a Pokémon journey as an excuse to travel, and while she initially starts on the same Hoenn League Journey as Ash, she finds out what she wants and crosses over into Pokémon Contests, becoming a Coordinator and travelling across Hoenn, Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh to compete in them.

Dawn on the other hand starts her journey knowing that she wants to be a Contest Coordinator, following in the footsteps of her mother, who is also a Coordinator. She initially thinks it’s going to be easy, believing all she has to do is follow in her mother’s footsteps and she’ll succeed, but she ends up losing her first Contest, which is quite a blow to her self-esteem. She has ups and downs throughout Sinnoh, wins and losses here and there (though she manages to defeat May when May travels to Sinnoh) she doesn’t falter from her goal to become a Top Coordinator, and later travels to Hoenn and Unova to participate in Contests there.

Ash serves as a mentor to both of these girls (May in Hoenn, and Dawn in Sinnoh), and I personally believe that Ash taking on a mentor role was the perfect direction for his character to take, coming off of defeating Gary in the Johto League. Despite Battling and performing in Contests being fundamentally different, Ash was still able to teach the girls a lot, using the experiences he had across Kanto and Johto to teach them about what it means to care for Pokémon. This not only develops May and Dawn as characters, but it makes Ash look as though he’s evolving and has actually learned from his journeys across the different Regions of the Pokémon world (as opposed to Unova, where his knowledge and skill as a Trainer was effectively reset).

Similar to Misty, both May and Dawn’s bikes both get ruined by Pikachu, but that’s where the similarities end. May and Dawn are much nicer characters, and are clear friends with Ash (as opposed to Misty’s ‘Tsundere’-esk tendencies in the English Dub, where, from Ash’s standpoint, you could understand him being a gullible idiot, because to him, she’s constantly berating him, why would she like him?). May and Dawn both just get along better with Ash than Misty does. Misty’s stuff makes for great comedy, but if we’re talking romance in as a legitimate context as we can, May and Dawn are clearly superior choices.

That brings us to Iris. Iris is basically Misty, again. She constantly berates Ash, calling him “such a kid” whenever he messes up, and starts following him for no reason (you can tangentially believe the reasons why Misty, May and Dawn start travelling around with Ash – May’s reason is actually the strongest, as May’s brother and father both identify Ash from the Johto League broadcast, and recognise that Ash is someone that May can learn from). Legitimately, the beginning of Ash’s and Iris’s travelling interaction goes like this:

(ASH and IRIS are walking side-by-side along a trail)

ASH: So, why are you coming along with me anyway?

(IRIS briskly walks ahead so she’s in front of ASH)

IRIS: Excuse me, but it’s not that I’m coming along with you, it’s that you’re coming along with me! Get it?!

ASH: Oh, please…!

(ASH walks faster, overtaking IRIS)

IRIS: It’s true!

(ASH and IRIS proceed to try and pass each other, walking faster and faster as they make their way along the trail)

It’s definitely the weakest reason for an additional travelling companion, and Iris is needlessly, again, Tsundere-esk. But, in Iris’s defence, Ash is a terrible Trainer in Unova.Generation V saw the core series games go into a soft reboot of sorts. In Pokémon Black and White, you do not encounter any intergenerational Pokémon until you have completed the main story. You will only encounter new Pokémon that are native to the Unova Region. This was done in an attempt to mirror Black and White’s player experience with Pokémon Red and Blue where players discovered a whole new Region, everything shrouded in secrets, not going into a game with any preconceived ideas about relying on old favourites. It was a bold move (one that ultimately backfired, but that’s a whole other topic entirely).

The anime looked at this soft reboot idea and took this to mean, reset Ash’s age back to being ten years old, and reset his experience as a Pokémon Trainer. He still has his League achievements, of course, but he makes rookie mistakes again and again,some even being exactly the same mistakes as ones he made in Kanto. It made sense with Misty berating Ash then, he legitimately was a beginning Pokémon Trainer (he was also a lot more stubborn and prone to backtalk, traits that were slowly phased out over time), but not at all the case with Ash in Unova. By Unova, Ash has little to no personality, other than ‘generic anime protagonist’, and his reason for failing is not a genuine one, it’s one concocted by the writers to downplay Ash’s own past skill and achievements and effectively start the anime series over fresh.

Iris’s similarities with Misty don’t end there. Like how Misty in the core series games is the Cerulean City Gym Leader, Iris too in Pokémon White is the Opelucid City Gym Leader (and she would later become Unova Champion in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2). Iris was clearly chosen to be Ash’s female companion for Unova (as opposed to Hilda, Bianca, or Rosa) because it mirrored Misty’s anime role in the original series in that a female Gym Leader became a travelling companion.

In any case, I rate Iris below Misty in terms of the best romance for Ash, and certainly below both May and Dawn.

Serena is Ash’s main female companion throughout Kalos. To say she is a controversial character in the Pokémon anime Shipping community would be an understatement. To put it bluntly, Serena’s entire character revolves around Ash. She has, with no room for interpretation, explicit romantic attraction towards Ash.

We see this first in a flashback, taking us back to four years before the beginning of the series. Serena attends Pokémon Summer Camp in Kanto and ends up getting lost in the forest. She hurts her leg, and Ash, also attending Camp that year, finds her, bandages her leg with a handkerchief, and tells her “Don’t give up”.

This moment was apparently so influential for Serena that she not only kept the handkerchief Ash gave her, but she allegedly never stopped thinking about him either, as when she sees him on TV rescuing Pikachu, she immediately recognises Ash, and begins her Pokémon journey in earnest, hoping to run into him.

Now, I’m all for worldbuilding and expanding on character’s backstories, but this isn’t the way to go about it. This is lazy writing. Rather than organically try to build a relationship between Ash and Serena, the writers decided to cut out the middleman by giving us a flashback that says “Serena loves Ash, so when are they going to get together?” rather than showing us why they should actually be together.

It’s like they’re skipping ahead to the end. They show the flashback to plant the seed with the audience, telling them that this is endgame, so that the audience focuses on just getting to the endgame, Serena ending up with Ash. That way, the writers don’t have to put any effort into properly introducing the characters and getting them to know each other, fleshing out their backstories or character arcs or what-have-you.

Now, I will say, I like that they at least tried something different. Pikachu destroying bikes had definitely become played out by this point, and it was a nice change of pace in the way the story was structured, having Ash’s and Serena’s stories converge how they did at the beginning of the Kalos series. I admire the attempt, but what’s wrong with Serena meeting Ash for the first time and getting to know him organically? Well, there’s nothing wrong with that (and in fact, I’ll get to a moment later on in the series where Serena having her own pre-conceived ideas of who Ash is through the flashback ends up being a detriment to her character).

And this might come across as being overly confrontational, but, the whole thing with Serena saving Ash’s handkerchief, thinking about him for all those years since her trip to Kanto, isn’t that a little sad and pathetic? She’s six. Are you telling me that for four years since then, Serena builds no other significant male friendships? That Ash is just always there in her mind as this paragon of kindness? Serena is literally simping for Ash!

To be fair, this flashback doesn’t affect Ash at all. Ash only vaguely remembers the exchange when Serena brings it up with him. He’s nice, of course, because he’s Ash, and doesn’t mind Serena tagging along with him on his journey across Kalos, but he’s incredibly oblivious to the fact that Serena’s in love with him, to the point of other characters pointing out how Serena is so in love with him. Classic romance stuff.

Except, I don’t think she’s in love with Ash. I think she’s in love with the idea of being loved by Ash. As much as I jokingly called Serena a simp, she really is one. Ash and Serena had one interaction when they were kids, and as much as we can also joke about Ash being oblivious, I think it’s also perfectly reasonable that Ash wouldn’t think anything more on his interaction with Serena. They were six years old at the time.

But Serena concocts this idea of who Ash is based on having met him only once, without understanding that, in-universe within the context of the anime, he is a living, breathing human with his own thoughts and feelings. We see this come to a head after Ash loses to Wulfric, the Snowbelle City Gym Leader. This is Ash’s second loss in a row (the other person he lost to being his Kalos Rival Sawyer), and the depression Ash feels is valid.

Ash and his Greninja leave the Pokémon Centre to reflect on their losses, and Serena finds him, and this exchange occurs:

(ASH is sitting by himself on a log, mulling over his losses against SAWYER and WULFRIC respectively)

SERENA: Ash!

(ASH looks up, seeing SERENA approach him. She’s breathing heavily, a smile on her face. ASH tilts his cap and looks back down)

ASH: I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have just left you like that…

(SERENA walks closer to ASH)

SERENA: Ash, if something is bothering you, you can talk to me. I’ll listen, anytime you want! Seriously, anytime, anywhere!

(ASH stays silent. It is clear from his body language that he would rather be left alone)

SERENA: I know how you feel. I’ve been there!

(ASH is still silent)

SERENA: Remember when I really goofed at the show–

(ASH stands up, indignant as he interrupts SERENA)

ASH: You don’t have a clue how I feel!

(SERENA is visibly taken aback for a moment)

SERENA: Then tell me about it!

ASH: It’s none of your business. Leave me alone!

(ASH turns and goes to walk away, only for SERENA to throw a snowball at him. ASH turns back around to face her)

SERENA: The Ash I know is full of energy. He’s a leader, always tries his best, he’s always positive, and he never gives up! He hangs in there ‘til the very end! You’re not acting like the Ash I know!

(SERENA, in tears, proceeds to pelt ASH with snowballs repeatedly as she cries)

SERENA: Stop! Give me back the real Ash, because you sure aren’t him!

(SERENA turns and runs away crying)

Some viewers may see the above scene as a touching display of Serena desperately trying to get through to Ash and break him out of his funk. I however see it as a whiny child (because again, she is ten) unable to fathom that other people (read: her crush) is / are allowed to be unhappy, even just for a moment.

Again, in-universe in the context of the anime, Ash is a real person with real feelings. He’s experiencing (the Pokémon anime version of) depression, and rather than allow Ash to know his feelings are validated and simply offer support, Serena invalidates Ash’s own feelings by comparing them to her own, then denying him the right of being anything other than constantly bright and cheerful, even telling him that he isn’t the real Ash.

And then, Serena makes Ash’s depression all about herself by crying and running away. Because in this moment, Ash is not happy. Ash is unable to love Serena, therefore to her, he is not ‘the real’ Ash.

What she should have done is just let Ash know that she’d be there for him if he wanted to talk and leave him alone so he could think things through. But that’s not what she did.

What Serena did, to me, is legitimately toxic, and for that reason, I actually place Serena at the very bottom of the list.

Now, to be fair, this is a singular moment in their relationship, and it can be read in many different ways (this is just the way the scene came across to me, negating, for me, anything else good or tolerable about their relationship).

To the writers’ credit though, they took Serena’s relationship with Ash further than any other female companion. While Misty, May and Dawn were given a lot of ‘ship tease’ moments with Ash throughout the anime and movies, it never really amounted to anything in the end. Serena though, ends the Kalos story kissing Ash on the lips as she leaves for the Hoenn Region. We don’t see their faces in frame, but it’s inferred by the characters’ reactions around the two that this is what’s happening.

Ash reacts with oblivious shock for a moment, while Serena thanks him. The airport escalator pulls Serena away as Ash smiles, the two of them wishing each other a fond farewell.

For the people that want to see Ash in a relationship (which is a valid group of people), the entire thing with Serena felt like it meant something. Serena’s whole character arc (for better or worse) basically boiled down to being in love with Ash, and it looked as though Ash was finally breaking away from that generic anime protagonist mould of being totally oblivious that ‘the female lead was in love with the male lead the whole time’. He reacts, he smiles, he nods knowingly, as though Ash not only acknowledges Serena’s feelings for him, but he reciprocates them as well.

And then we get to Alola.

And none of it means anything.

As of this Essay, Serena has not made any appearances since her farewell to Ash at the end of Kalos. We begin Alola in medias res with Ash having already arrived. Unlike prior seasons, there’s no transition using the last few episodes of one Region and beginning episodes of the next to connect the dots. At the end of the Kalos season, Ash returns to Pallet Town, and at the beginning of the Alola season, Ash is already on holiday there. Serena doesn’t appear in present form, or in flashback, she doesn’t get mentioned, she might as well not even exist.

So… what was the point? What was the point of any of it?

Again, the Pokémon anime is not an anime focused on romance, but if you’re going to devote what is effectively an entire season to a relationship, then there needs to be some sort of payoff. Otherwise, don’t do it at all. Don’t waste your time. Don’t waste your audience’s time!

And that goes for storytelling in general, not just romance. If you’re going to spend a majority of your time on a certain plot element, there needs to be payoff for it (and no, Serena kissing Ash and leaving is not payoff for just over three years of build-up). I’m not even a Shipper, but I can understand why certain fans would be outraged.

I won’t go into the companions for Alola and beyond, as Lillie’s character arc was butchered (in comparison to her game incarnation in Pokémon Sun and Moon) and Chloe (in Pokémon Journeys) is a non-entity, so I’ll wrap up the character analysis here, but there is one final thing I would like to touch on first.

Representation? In My Pokémon?!

I don’t want to turn this Essay into a whole thing about representation in media, but I feel I would be doing a disservice if I failed to mention that May, Dawn and Serena, in terms of their appearances, are the female player characters for Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and Pokémon X and Y respectively.

Now, I am a male, and I am someone who self-inserts, especially when it comes to Pokémon. While I know that canonically, I play as a different unconnected male player character in every Pokémon game I play, I ‘pretend’ (I guess that’s the best way to put it) that I am the same character, or ‘Trainer’ across all of the games I play. From Pokémon Sapphire, to Pearl, to Y, GO, Sun, Ultra Sun, Let’s Go Eevee, Shield, I pretend that I play as the same Trainer, travelling across all these different Regions, catching all these Pokémon, and going on all these different adventures.

I’m fortunate that, as a male (I can’t believe I’ve said that twice, in the context of this Essay) I don’t have to reconcile anything. When it comes to the core series games, none of the male player characters (aside from Red) show up in any games past their introductory ones. And when it comes to the anime, none of the male characters show up there either (Brendan and Lucas show up in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos during some introduction sequences for the movies, and the male player character of PoGOld and Silver, named Jimmy, appears as the lead character in a special, but that’s it).

So for the most part, for me, I’m fine. And even more than that, as I play as the male player character, the female player characters then take on the role of either being a friend or rival. Playing as ‘Brendan’ the male player character in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, May becomes the daughter of Professor Birch, helps you learn the ropes of being a Trainer, and generally serves as a friendly rival throughout the game. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, playing as a boy means Dawn is the assistant to Professor Rowan, and she serves a similar role to introducing you to becoming a Pokémon Trainer. Likewise, Pokémon X and Y sees Serena being your main rival (out of a group of four rivals, surprisingly), though both you and her are the only ones of the group to be given the ability to Mega Evolve your Pokémon.

The point I’m trying to make, is that when I watch the anime, and I see May or Dawn or Serena, that’s who I see.

But some viewers might see themselves.

Picture this: You’re a young girl. Eight, nine, ten years old, whatever. You pick up Pokémon X on launch day. You play as the female player character, you might give her your name, the default name, or a different name. Either way, you play through the story, and you have a lot of fun getting immersed into the world. As a young child with an imagination, you start to feel like you are that Trainer, that character.

A few months later, the anime starts airing in your country. And who’s that new character alongside Ash? That’s… that’s you! You’re with Ash!

So many RPGs allow you to self-insert into characters, but Pokémon is one of the few with an anime adaptation. Not only that, but a good amount of the female companions in the anime are just the female player characters transplanted into the anime (obviously they’re given a voice and a backstory, but still).

With this in mind, it’s perfectly understandable wish fulfillment that a young girl who loves Pokémon, who’s played the games, sees herself as the character in the game she’s playing, then sees ‘herself’ onscreen, that the writers are clearly pushing an obvious romance angle where Ash and ‘her’ are being paired together, that she might become invested in that pairing happening.

We see this in other forms of media, people wanting to see themselves or elements of themselves represented onscreen (though as an aside, I’d rather not see a representation of myself onscreen; I consume entertainment as a way of escapism, not to be reminded about the world and my place in it, but I digress).

What I’m trying to say is, female viewers might want to see themselves paired up with Ash, and when looking at the general audience reception for Ash-Serena-centric episodes of the anime, I’m fairly certain that that is the case, and more power to them. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. You do you.

However, of course, my viewpoint of Ash and Serena’s relationship is in stark contrast to that. I have no connection to or investment in either character. I have no Rapidash in this race, I’m just looking at things as objectively and as analytically as I can, and I think, analytically speaking, Serena is the worst Pokémon romance for Ash.

But now, let’s move onto the final standings of this totally legitimate, not-a-waste-of-time list of which fictional character is best suited to be in a relationship with another fictional character.

The Official Canon Pokémon Waifu Tier List

From best to worst:

1. May
2. Dawn
3. Misty
4. Iris
5. Serena

This is totally legitimate, and one hundred percent irrefutable.

Unless you disagree, in which case, your opinions are correct.

Any Other Romances?

It’s a little difficult to talk about romance objectively in the core series games, especially involving player characters since they do potentially serve as ‘self-insert’ characters, but I will do my best to discuss the characters simply within the boundaries of the core series.

In the core series games, there are actually quite a few, all things considered. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and their remakes, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, along with Pokémon Emerald, feature a fledgling relationship between Brendan and May, the male and female player characters respectively, regardless of who you pick as your avatar. This is more so the case in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, where your character is explicitly referred to by them as their “best friend” (which is about as explicit as Pokémon can get, all things considered). The characters even end up going on a date at the end of the ‘Delta Episode’.

Additionally in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Zinnia and Lisia respectively take a special interest in the player character (if you complete the ‘Delta Episode’ and ‘Contest Spectacular’ portions of the game) respectively. Courtney, an Admin of Team Magma, also seems to take a bizarre interest in the player character in Omega Ruby specifically.

You also have Lillie in Pokémon Sun and Moon, who again, regardless of whether you’re playing as a male or female, says that she “really admire[s] you”, and is effectively the main character of the game’s story, with you tagging along with her to solve the main crisis. I feel similarly with Lillie as I do with Serena in regards to how the storyline was handled. It’s all but outright stated that Lillie loves the player character and she as a character is given a lot of focus, much more so than other non-player characters across the core series games. Before the climax of the game, she tells the player that she’d like to become a Trainer as well, learn from them and travel with them, but the end of the game sees them heading to Kanto to help their mother (who, long story short, is the game’s main antagonist), leaving the player character in Alola, alone.

This is never picked up again. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon features an alternate take on the Pokémon Sun and Moon story, one that sees Lillie stay in Alola (but the story also doesn’t develop Lillie anywhere near as much), and Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, games that take place in Kanto and could have conceivably been a new story which featured her and her own journey being a Pokémon Trainer, is instead just a re-tread of Pokémon Yellow’s story with some minor additions.

Again, from me it just elicits a reaction of, what was the point? If you’re going to focus on these characters, if you’re going to focus on a relationship when there’s otherwise no reason for there to be one anyway, then there should be a point to it. But that’s just me.

The harsh TL; DR

If Nathan Redwood were a real person, he would say “Pokémon shouldn’t do romance. Every time it’s done it, it’s been a waste of time. Might as well not do it at all then, honestly.”

5. Why Ash is Trash, and who are the best Trainers in the series? (game/anime etc). What makes a great Trainer?

In the past, I have word-vomited on and on countless times before about how I consider Ash Ketchum to be trash. There’s nothing that I’ve said about him as a character that can’t be found in other far more comprehensive Essays, written by people who are far more articulate than I am.

So, instead of talking about how ‘Ash is Trash’ from an in-universe perspective, I’d like to talk about it from an out-of-universe perspective.

The original plan for Pokémon, overall, was that it was not going to exist past Generation II. While Western fans were introduced to the franchise with Pokémon Red and Blue, Game Freak were, at the same time, developing Pocket Monsters 2 (which would later be known as PoGOld and Silver) which would serve as true sequels, and the end of the core series games.

Part of this was true for the anime as well. The original plan for the Pokémon anime was that it was specifically designed as an adaptation of the Generation I games. It was going to run for a year and a half, concluding with Ash defeating Gary at the finals of the Indigo League, where Ash would become a Pokémon Master, presumably ending in a sequence that mirrored the end credits of Pocket Monsters Red and Green, just as the opening sequence of the first episode mirrored the opening of Red and Green (though head writer at the time, Takeshi Shudo, also pushed for a far darker ending, which would have seen a timeskip into the far future, of Ash as an old man alone, wistfully reflecting on the Pokémon journey he went on as a child).

The anime was pushed back for a little while, due to the ‘Electric Soldier Porygon Incident’ (which saw over six hundred children across Japan admitted to hospital due to the episode causing seizures), but it was also around this time that the overall plot for the Pokémon anime would be revised. The Pokémon anime would extend to also incorporate content from the upcoming PoGOld and Silver games (which is why Togepi was introduced soon after), though due to Game Freak’s issues during development of Gold and Silver and needing to delay the games, the Orange Islands filler arc was created to help buy Game Freak time (as the Pokémon anime would be airing continuously during this time) and introduce new Pokémon as needed.

The plan for the anime then became this: Ash and Gary would both lose the Indigo League, then Ash would head to the Orange Islands and pick up the GS Ball, take part in all of the Orange Islands filler, including winning the Orange League, before heading back to Kanto and then onward to Johto, where not only would the GS Ball’s purpose have been revealed, but Ash would have defeated Gary and go on to win the Johto League, ending the series.

So, it was more or less an elongated revision of the original plan. Either way, the plan was for Ash to win a Pokémon League, and for the anime and core series games, all of that, to end.

But that’s not what ended up happening.

First, the writers decided to, both figuratively and literally, shelve the GS Ball, instead repurposing elements of its intended storyline for the fourth Pokémon movie, where Celebi was featured (the GS Ball was originally going to contain a Celebi, and Kurt was going to open the Ball and release it, freeing Celebi and starting a whole new story arc. This is why, when the GS Ball was scrapped from the anime, it meant that that whole storyline went too, and Johto suddenly went into another huge filler arc after just coming out of the last one – their whole plan for the next story arc, and technically the resolution for the current one, had been quietly disposed of).

And second, it was decided that the core series (and entire Pokémon franchise) would continue indefinitely (no doubt inspired by the Pokémania that had swept across the Western world, but most specifically the United States – this also, no doubt, is what led in part to the formation of The Pokémon Company, as was referenced in the first Essay). We saw Kecleon show up in the anime to tip off viewers that there were indeed more Pokémon left to be discovered. But the games themselves, PoGOld and Silver, were proper sequels to Pokémon Red and Blue. Gold and Silver canonically end with the player character from Gold and Silver Battling the player character from Red and Blue (known as Red).

But, what does all of this have to do with Ash being trash?

Well, here’s the thing:

Ash wasn’t trash.

Sure, he started the series not knowing Type matchups, not knowing to weaken Pokémon before catching them, a lot of his early Pokémon followed him, he was given a few of his Gym Badges without actually beating the Gym Leader, he flew by the seat of his pants with anime logic, “Pikachu! The horn!” all that stuff.

But, he did develop. He did get better. He learned Type matchups, he caught stronger Pokémon, he bonded more with his Pokémon (we see Ash’s Charizard finally accept him as a Trainer, for example), we see him rotate his team. He beats Gary. He saves the world!

As a viewer, if you follow Ash from the beginning of Kanto to the end of Johto, he goes from being a terrible Trainer and turns into a pretty damn good one!

But for some reason, he still loses the Johto League.

The writers decided that, since the anime was going to continue, then, so was Ash’s story. But just because the anime series was continuing, didn’t mean Ash’s story needed to continue as well.

Ash could have very well easily won the Johto League as planned, and finish off that series as Johto Champion. Then, the next season could begin, in Hoenn, with a new main character, totally unconnected to Ash, just like how Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were disconnected from Generations I and II both in terms of story, and also being literally unable to Trade or Transfer Pokémon over from those games.

They could do a ‘Digimon’, basically. Do a new series, maybe even have it take place in the same ‘world’, but feature a new main character totally disconnected from Ash.

Have Ash win, give him the send-off that he deserves, show him using his development across Kanto, the Orange Islands and Johto, and triumph! Let Ash’s story end on a high, and start over with a new, fresh-faced protagonist in Hoenn.

But they didn’t do that.

Despite Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire being as close to a full reboot as the core series ever got, (the events of Ruby and Sapphire literally take place around the same time as Red and Blue, and before Gold and Silver), the anime decided it would just keep going forward. It would do what it did with Gold and Silver and do it again, stretch it out.

So, Ash travels to Hoenn, and begins his descent into trash-hood.

Now honestly, Ash in Hoenn, there was nothing wrong with him. Not really. In fact, I would say Ash in Hoenn and Sinnoh, where he served as a mentor to both May and Dawn respectively, was a pretty good next step for his character (as mentioned in the previous Essay).

The one big problem I have with Hoenn (aside from the voice actor switch halfway through, but that’s one hundred percent a personal thing) was that it began the trend of Ash leaving all his Pokémon behind with Professor Oak in Pallet Town and starting fresh.

Now, for the context of Hoenn, this was done to mirror the incompatibility between Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and prior games in the core series. You couldn’t Trade your Lugia from Silver to Ruby, for example, so I’m sure executives at The Pokémon Company asked the writers of the anime to reflect this in the series as well. They probably wanted to cut off Little Timmy asking “Why can Ash use his Shiny Noctowl in Hoenn, when I can’t use my Shiny Tangela in Sapphire?” (Pikachu, of course, was the exception to the rule, given that he is the mascot of the entire franchise).

Narratively, Ash decides to leave all his Pokémon behind, except Pikachu, for a fresh start, apropos of nothing. Norman, May’s father and Petalburg City Gym Leader, thinks Ash’s decision is “admirable”, which, no, it’s not. He had a capable, powerful collection of Pokémon that he could have brought with him to Hoenn (Charizard and Snorlax to name only two), and the only reason he didn’t do this was narrative contrivance.

Now, we know why this was done out-of-universe, but what this says about Ash, in-universe, is that he’s an idiot.

To be fair, the anime had sort of played with this before. By the beginning of Johto, Ash uses his experienced Pokémon in Battle against a beginning Pokémon Trainer named Casey, and utterly wipes the floor with her. Misty and Brock deride Ash for effectively cheating, saying it’s not fair that he uses his powerful Pokémon against her when she’s just starting out, but it is fair. It’s logical.

Why would you not use the strongest, most powerful, useful Pokémon that you have in a Pokémon Battle? Why would you not use the knowledge you’ve acquired over the years to your advantage? Why would you use a Normal Type Move against a Ghost Type Pokémon, when you know that Normal Type Moves have no effect?

Because you’re trash, Ash.

And this wasn’t a one-time thing. Despite all core series games from Generation III onward being forward-compatible with the next Generation, Ash would still leave all his Pokémon behind at the end of every Region, starting fresh each time. Very, very occasionally, would Ash bring back one of his old Pokémon for an episode or two as a little bit of fanservice, but all that does is make the audience ask “Where were they before, when Ash really needed them?”

There are so many times, from Hoenn onwards, where we see Ash lose a Battle against a Gym Leader or a Rival, or whoever, when it’s just like “x Pokémon could have won that, if Ash brought it with him.” That sort of thing.

It’s taken me a long time to get here, but the crux of this Essay is this:

Ash is trash, because the writers want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to keep Ash as the main character of the anime because he’s become the face of anime, and maintain that thin semblance of continuity, but they also want Ash to act as a wide-eyed newbie audience surrogate so that new fans who come into the anime series with every new Region can learn alongside him.

All of this could have been avoided if the anime had have just gone down the path of focusing on a new main character with every Region. Instead, we just have Ash develop over the course of a Region, and then all his skill is abruptly reset as he arrives in the next. And even when he wins a Pokémon League, no one really acknowledges it. He finally won the Alola League, the first Canon Pokémon League he’s ever won. Next season, they don’t mention it. Even when Ash returns to Alola for an episode in the following season, it’s like it never happened.

Of course, it’s too late now. Ash (for the anime at least) is as much a mascot as Pikachu is. Getting rid of Ash now and replacing him with a new protagonist at this point is too little, too late. There’d be too much controversy, too much outrage. They could have gotten away with it over twenty years ago, but not now.

So, it is unfortunate that, due to circumstances outside of his control, Ash Ketchum is Trash.

Who Are Some Good Pokémon Trainers Then?

Funnily enough, Ash’s core series counterpart Red is more or less how Ash’s story was assumedly planned to end. As of this Essay, Red’s Pokémon (in terms of Level) are the highest owned by any NPC Trainer in the core series games (Level 88 as of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, and yes, while I did mention in the Battle System Essay that Level is not an indicator of skill, his team is comprised of Pikachu, Lapras, Snorlax, Blastoise, Charizard and Venusaur, which is a pretty good team in terms of Type coverage). He also appears across the core series in various postgame Battle Facilities too, using competitive movesets and strategies, Hold Items, occasionally even using Mega Evolution.

In-universe, Red is considered a ‘Battle Legend’ in the core series games (having that as his Trainer Class in Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon), revered for having stopped Team Rocket, as well as becoming the Kanto Champion. In the Pokémon Origins series, Red completed the Kanto Regional Pokédex (excluding Mew), a feat thought impossible in the context of that series.

Cynthia (personally my favourite human character in Pokémon) is another fantastic Pokémon Trainer. She is the Sinnoh League Champion in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Pokémon Platinum, as well as the upcoming Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes. As stated in the Battle System Essay, Cynthia’s Champion Team is incredibly well-rounded, consisting of Spiritomb (which at the time had no weaknesses), Roserade, Gastrodon (replaced in Platinum with Togekiss), Lucario, Milotic, and Garchomp (her Ace). Any one of these Pokémon could be considered the Ace Pokémon of any other Trainer, but for Cynthia, it’s simply another member of her team. They all have 31 Perfect IVs, the team altogether having outstanding synergy and type coverage (this was before the introduction of the Fairy Type, mind you). To defeat Cynthia, players will need legitimate skill (and may possibly need to incorporate competitive strategies) if their Pokémon are around the same Level, or will need to grind their Pokémon to around Level 80 to make up the difference (to clarify, the Level range of Cynthia’s Pokémon is around Level 60 – Cynthia’s Pokémon, in terms of team composition, movesets, Type coverage, and IVs are just that good). This is also reflected in the anime, where her anime counterpart has never been shown to have lost a Battle.

Aside from her amazing Battle prowess, Cynthia also researches Pokémon history, often looking into legends and myths surrounding Pokémon and the Pokémon world. She is approachable, easy-going and friendly, mentoring the player character in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Pokémon Platinum, as well as Ash, Dawn, Paul and Iris in the anime, either giving them items to use in their adventures or offering advice. She’s also one of the few Champions within the series to be actively involved in Region-wide conflict. For example, while Lance and Steven stood around and did nothing in Red and Blue and Ruby and Sapphire respectively, when their Regions were under threat by evil teams, Cynthia, in both the core series and anime, fights alongside the player / Ash against Team Galactic (and Team Rocket as well, in the anime). In fact, Pokémon Generations sees her willing to physically fight (not her Pokémon, herself) Giratina before it drags Cyrus into the Distortion World and disappears.

A lot of people downplay Cynthia, saying things like “She’s overrated,” or “She’s only popular because of her physical appearance”, and while yes, she is certainly designed to be a physically-appealing character, I hope I’ve been able to articulate why, not only do I think she’s as good as she is, but that she is as good as she is. It doesn’t matter what incarnation she is, whether it’s in the core series or the anime, whether it’s the story or the postgame facilities, Cynthia is an amazing Pokémon Trainer.

If I had to pick one more Pokémon Trainer, Leon from Pokémon Sword and Shield is pretty good. He’s the Galar Champion, and he’s held that title in-universe since he first won it when he was ten years old. He appears to be in his mid-twenties, so he’s held onto the title for over a decade, which has to count for something. His team is also pretty good, it actually changes depending on which Starter Pokémon the player chooses (he will use the final Evolution of whichever Galar Starter is super-effective against the one you choose, and his Charizard’s moveset will feature specific moves designed to counter the Starter as well. For example, if you choose Sobble, a Water Type, Leon’s Charizard will know Solar Beam – a Grass Type attack. If you chose Scorbunny, a Fire Type, Charizard will know Ancient Power – a Rock Type attack).

In-universe, everyone around Galar loves and adores Leon, calling him “the unbeatable Champion”, so he’s clearly popular. He’s very kind, wanting to put on a good show and wants everyone to enjoy great Battles. In the anime, as of this Essay, he is also considered to be the World Champion, above every other Regional Champion introduced so far (including Cynthia and Lance).

On a personal note, while Leon’s Pokémon are technically of a higher Level than Cynthia’s (in terms of their Champion teams), the way that Sword and Shield’s difficulty is scaled, how the EXP Share functions and the introduction of EXP Candy, it’s a lot easier for the player to cheese the Battle against Leon and win, without having to really use any strategy. If you’re around the same Level, it will definitely be a tough fight, but you can literally just boost all of your Pokémon to Level 100 with EXP Candies, Dynamax and win without any effort. As of this Essay, you don’t have that luxury against Cynthia. You will either need to manually grind to well above her Pokémon’s Levels, or apply genuine strategy, to have even a chance of winning against her.

What Makes a Great Pokémon Trainer?

While technically, a Pokémon Trainer is simply anyone who owns a Pokémon, a great Pokémon Trainer, to me, is someone who cares for / about their Pokémon, but is also focused more on Pokémon in the context of Battling.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I would consider myself to be a great Pokémon Trainer, and the reasons I believe that are:

The Pokémon that I use in my main team are the oldest ones I have, that I carry all of my Pokémon along with me throughout all the core series games I play (indicating that I have a strong bond with, and care about, my Pokémon).

I don’t care about Abilities, EVs, IVs, Natures etc. (insofar as the individual Pokémon themselves. I don’t breed Pokémon specifically for their IVs and disregard any or what-have-you. Rather than ditch a Pokémon because its IVs or Nature or Ability are ‘less than ideal’, I keep it because it’s ‘mine’. It’s my Sceptile, unlike anyone else’s. Though I am lucky that the core series did introduce all of these quality-of-life improvements to allow me to make my Pokémon on par with everyone else’s, competitively-speaking.

But, what makes a great Pokémon Trainer, most of all, is your love for your Pokémon. Even though I know, at the end of the day, Sceptile is just a bunch of ones and zeroes, it’s one of the oldest bunches of ones and zeros I still have. I’ve held onto him since 2005 or 2006 (I can’t quite remember when exactly I first played Pokémon Sapphire, but that same Sceptile from that first savegame is the same Sceptile I have and still use in Battle today). I would feel absolutely devastated if I lost him, almost like losing a part of myself, because I love him, and all my Pokémon so much, and the memories I’ve made with them.

There is one more thing that makes a great Pokémon Trainer: a willingness to learn, and if you’re reading this, that makes you a pretty great Pokémon Trainer.

6. Who is Giovanni meant to be? What is his history, his deal, etc. The musical with Ash’s mum is also something I’d like to talk about!

“Who is Giovanni meant to be?” / Giovanni in the Games: Part 1

That’s honestly a very difficult question to answer, and one different from “Who is Giovanni?”

In the localised versions of the original games, Pokémon Red and Blue, Giovanni (known in Japan as Sakaki) is the Leader of Team Rocket, as well as the Gym Leader of Viridian City. The player character (‘canonically’ Red) encounters Giovanni at the Team Rocket Hideout in Celadon City’s underground, and again at the Silph Company building in Saffron City, defeating him and his men both times before encountering him one final time as Gym Leader of Viridian City. This is a reveal in-game, as no one knows who the Viridian City Gym Leader is. When the player defeats him again, Giovanni declares “Having lost, I cannot face my underlings! Team Rocket is finished forever! I will dedicate my life to the study of Pokémon! Let us meet again someday! Farewell!”

The next core games in the series, PoGOld and Silver, see a Team Rocket three years later, without Giovanni, taking over the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City, hoping to send a message to him to get him to reappear and join Team Rocket once more, but whether he doesn’t get the message at all or ignores it (we don’t know), Giovanni never reappears.

In those original sets of games, Giovanni is meant to be like the leader of the Yakuza (or Mafia, which is why his name was changed to Giovanni from Sakaki for the international games, as Giovanni is a typical Italian name), and effectively a one-off villain. Neither him, nor Team Rocket, have any effect on the storyline of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, for example, the main antagonists of those games being Team Magma and Team Aqua respectively. As a Gym Leader, he gets about as much development as the rest of the Gym Leaders in the original games, which is to say, not a lot.

However, perhaps in part due to Giovanni’s portrayal in the anime, manga and other adaptations, future remakes and re-imaginings of the Kanto storyline seem to retroactively turn Giovanni into almost an overarching villain for the series.

In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, remakes of the original PoGOld and Silver, there is a special event where Celebi transports the player character back in time to just after the events of Red and Green, where Giovanni promises to his son Silver, “You shall witness one day the revival of me and my Team Rocket!” before abandoning him. The player is then transported further in time, to the point where Giovanni intends to actively respond to his call to action at the Goldenrod Radio Tower.

When the player defeats Giovanni in Battle, he sombrely says “The precious dream of Team Rocket has become little more than an illusion…” and disappears, before Celebi returns the player to the present day.

The New Giovanni / Giovanni in the Games: Part 2

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s ‘Episode RR’ introduces players to Team Rainbow Rocket, led by a new Giovanni. This Giovanni comes from a world where either Red didn’t exist, or failed to stop him, as Team Rocket succeeded in taking over the Silph Company, mass-producing Master Balls (as all of Giovanni’s Pokémon are sent out of Master Balls when you Battle him), and Giovanni uses one to catch Mewtwo, (probably, though it isn’t confirmed) taking over the Kanto Region.

This Giovanni arrives in Alola with Team Rainbow Rocket, an organisation made up of previous evil Team Leaders from all the core series games up to that point (Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, and Team Flare – all of whom come from worlds where they also succeeded with their plans and catching their respective Legendary Pokémon). Team Rainbow Rocket takes over the Aether Paradise, and the player character is tasked with taking them out, defeating each evil Team Leader, as well as several Grunts, before ending on a Battle with Giovanni, who remarks beforehand “Having a kid stand in front of me like this… Such a thing should never happen. But for some reason, it also makes me feel nostalgic.”

When the player character defeats Giovanni, he agrees to leave Aether Paradise, though declares “My Team Rainbow Rocket will never fail! Never forget that!” before disappearing. At the end of ‘Episode RR’, Giovanni wonders to himself “What new world shall I unleash my evil schemes upon…?” before disappearing into an Ultra Wormhole.

This storyline is later continued in Pokémon Masters EX, where Giovanni reappears on Pasio in another reality. The player character teams up with Brock and Misty in a series of Battles against Giovanni and Mewtwo, and at the Battles’ conclusions, Giovanni remarks “I’ve been thinking about changing my ways… starting fresh here in this new part of the world called Pasio.” And joins the player’s roster as an available Sync Pair with Mewtwo. Giovanni joins the player’s roster ostensibly so the player can keep an eye on him, as everyone knows about Team Rocket, though Giovanni muses to himself “It seems I was able to infiltrate their unit successfully.”

Giovanni later appears, having recruited members of Team Break, the evil team on Pasio, to try and obtain the Legendary Pokémon Kyurem and Zekrom, teaming up with Ghetsis, the Leader of Team Plasma, in the process. It should be noted that Giovanni had recruited a different version of Ghetsis into Team Rainbow Rocket previously, and that version of Ghetsis had planned to betray him before being defeated himself in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. As such, this Ghetsis plans to betray Giovanni as well, though Giovanni is aware of that.

Giovanni uses Mewtwo to prevent Ghetsis from fusing Kyurem together with Zekrom, telling him “I know how you operate, Ghetsis – a lot better than you think.” before turning on him. Nate (the male player character from Pokémon Black 2 and White 2) and N intrude to assist Ghetsis against Giovanni (this is a big deal, as Nate and N previously opposed Ghetsis in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2), but Giovanni’s Mewtwo fights both Kyurem and Zekrom to a standstill.

Nate, N, and Ghetsis escape, and Giovanni sends the members of Team Break that he had recruited after them. Silver appears (remember that Silver is Giovanni’s son, though this version of Silver is not this Giovanni’s son), sending out Ho-Oh and threatening Giovanni. Giovanni announces a “change of plans” and returns Mewtwo to its Master Ball, calling off his Team Break Grunts.

The last time Giovanni appears is in a stinger in a post-credits sequence at the end of the ‘PML Story Arc’, announcing “It’s time to sow some chaos…”

So, at the time of this Essay, there’s still more to come with Giovanni’s storyline in Pokémon Masters EX. My personal prediction is that Giovanni will be the main antagonist of the next story arc, taking over the now-directionless Team Break, and use the resources available to him on Pasio (among which is the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa) to carry out his next big scheme, which leads us into PoGO.

Giovanni appears in PoGO, as the Boss of Team GO Rocket. He is apparently the same Giovanni as the one from Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and Pokémon Masters EX, as in the promotional video introducing Team GO Rocket to the game, Giovanni states “Earth is where I shall unleash my evil schemes next!”, echoing Giovanni’s sentiments at the conclusion of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s ‘Episode RR’.

In PoGO, Giovanni is only able to be encountered through Special Research or through special events (such as PoGO Fest 2020), though under his command he has ordered his Team GO Rocket Grunts to take over PokéStops, alongside his Admins, Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo, using Shadow Pokémon to do so.

Similar to Pokémon Masters EX, the Team GO Rocket storyline in PoGO isn’t complete at the time of this Essay. From what we’ve seen of it so far, it looks as though it’s a revolving storyline, Giovanni using a different Shadow Legendary Pokémon with each subsequent Special Research. The player is tasked with defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts to earn Mysterious Components, which can then be combined to create a Rocket Radar, used for tracking down one of the Admins to Battle them.

Once the Admins are defeated enough times, the player earns a Super Rocket Radar that they can use to track down Giovanni, Battle, and defeat him. Giovanni’s final Pokémon is always a Shadow Legendary Pokémon, and once Giovanni is defeated, the player is given the opportunity to catch the featured Pokémon as Giovanni flees.

My personal prediction for the Team GO Rocket storyline is that it’s going to cycle through different Shadow Legendary Pokémon each time, with no real progression to the story or worldbuilding, as that’s more or less what has happened since its inception, barring a few exceptions.

What I’d personally like to see is more of a story being told, more worldbuilding, connecting the dots between Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Pokémon Masters EX, and PoGO. What is Giovanni’s connection to the Team GO Rocket Admins, for example? Team GO Rocket Admin Arlo is revealed to previously have been a member of Team Valor, and is a former friend of Candela. What made him decide to join Team GO Rocket? He’s apparently involved in Team GO Rocket’s Shadow Pokémon program – does that have anything to do with Cipher’s Shadow Pokémon program featured in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much that Niantic and PoGO could do with Giovanni and Team GO Rocket, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how things progress.

Giovanni in the Anime

Giovanni appears in the mainline Pokémon anime, serving a role similar to the one from Pocket Monsters Red and Green, as the Leader of Team Rocket, as well as the (for a time) Gym Leader of Viridian City.

He inherited the leadership role of Team Rocket from his mother, Madame Boss, who founded the organisation. It was her that was originally interested in the Mythical Pokémon Mew, and sent Team Rocket Agent Miyamoto to find it, referring to her as the “ideal image of Team Rocket”. During the mission, Miyamoto disappeared and has not been seen since.

Years later, after Giovanni had inherited Team Rocket, he financed an expedition to Guyana, where a Fossil of Mew had allegedly been found. Additionally, he provided financial support to Dr. Fuji, an industry leader in the field of cloning, on the proviso that Dr. Fuji create for Giovanni the world’s strongest Pokémon.

The creation of a clone of Mew, Mewtwo, was successful. However, Mewtwo was outraged at the circumstances of his creation and destroyed the laboratory, killing all the scientists there. Giovanni arrived at the rubble, bargaining with Mewtwo “Will you let your powers run wild, and do to the world the same thing you did to this island?”, offering to train Mewtwo to control its Psychic powers.

From the shadows, Giovanni would orchestrate the takeover of the St. Anne cruise ship, as well as finance several operations across Kanto as a front for Team Rocket, such as Pokémon Day Cares and Theme Parks. All the while, he would continue to train Mewtwo, instilling in them the belief that “destruction, war, and conquest” was the only path forward.

Giovanni would occasionally use Mewtwo in Gym Battles against Pokémon Trainers he thought were worthy enough. None who faced Mewtwo were able to defeat Giovanni however.

Eventually though, Giovanni was forced to leave his post as Viridian City’s Gym Leader, taking Mewtwo with him on a special assignment. It was at the conclusion of this assignment, and their return to Team Rocket Headquarters where Mewtwo asked Giovanni what his purpose was. Giovanni replied, “You were created by humans to obey humans. What other value could you have?”

Mewtwo responded to Giovanni’s disregard in kind, stating “I was created by humans, but I am not human! And as an artificial Pokémon, I am not a Pokémon either! My creators have used and betrayed me! So, I stand alone!”, destroying the Team Rocket Headquarters as he left.

Giovanni was angered more by Mewtwo’s betrayal than by the destruction of his headquarters, and he quickly secured funding to rebuild it. In addition, he ordered his technicians to begin working on new technology to aid in recapturing Mewtwo.

Sometime later, Giovanni was able to track Mewtwo’s location to Mount Quena in Johto, and travelled there along with the Team Rocket Combat Unit, intent on recapturing him. The Team Rocket Combat Unit attacked Mount Quena, drawing Mewtwo out. With the manpower of the Team Rocket Combat Unit, as well as his scientists’ new technology behind him, Giovanni captured not only the native Pokémon living there, but also the Clone Pokémon that Mewtwo had since created, that had been living on the island.

Giovanni threatened to kill them should Mewtwo not submit to him, though Mewtwo said they “would sooner leave this world than serve” him. Giovanni remarked how easily that could be arranged, and Mewtwo submitted, contained by Giovanni’s new technology.

Giovanni decided Mount Quena to be the perfect location for a new laboratory and set about building one, only for Bug Pokémon from all over Johto to appear and swarm the place, angered by Team Rocket’s presence on the island.

Coincidentally, Ash, Misty, Brock and company, who had been captured by Team Rocket Agent 009 and were being held on the island, were able to escape in the ensuing chaos. They attempted to help Mewtwo, freeing them from Giovanni’s machines, though Mewtwo was on the brink of death.

Giovanni touched down alongside 009 and the rest of the Team Rocket Combat Unit, decreeing “Mewtwo belongs to me, and I alone will be the one to decide whether it will survive or not.”

Misty and Brock, along with both the ‘real’ and Clone Pokémon faced off against Giovanni, allowing Ash to make a getaway and bring Mewtwo to Purity Spring in Mount Quena.

Team Rocket had the advantage, but Mewtwo returned, having been restored by the power of Mount Quena’s spring and boldly told Giovanni “You will not defile this place! It does not belong to you, any more than I do!”, before using his power to move Purity Lake and Purity Spring beneath Mount Quena, and erase the memories of Giovanni, as well as everyone else who wanted to cause harm to that place. Giovanni and the rest of his forces were teleported away by Mewtwo, their minds erased.

It is not made clear whether Mewtwo completely erased Giovanni’s memories of Mewtwo or not. Nevertheless, at the aftermath, Giovanni muses to himself “It’s strange, but I have the feeling I have been utterly defeated.” and does not attempt to find or re-catch Mewtwo again in the series, as of the writing of this Essay.

Giovanni made less appearances in Hoenn and Sinnoh (mirroring the fact that Team Rocket made no appearances in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl), only appearing on video to check in with Team Rocket Members Jessie and James. When Jessie and James told Giovanni that they had defeated Team Galactic in Sinnoh, he recruited them for a special assignment in the Unova Region.

Giovanni himself spearheaded ‘Operation Tempest’ in the Unova Region, attempting to capture the Mythical Pokémon Meloetta and take control of the three Legendary Pokémon Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus to conquer the Region. It was during Operation Tempest that Giovanni had his first Battle with Ash, using Persian to easily take down Ash’s Pikachu, capturing Meloetta in the process.

Giovanni uses Meloetta’s Relic Song to open the Abyssal Ruins and obtain the Reveal Glass, using it to call forth Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. The Reveal Glass transforms them into their Therian Formes before Giovanni orders them to go after Ash, Cynthia, and the others who had arrived to rescue Meloetta and stop Giovanni.

The Reveal Glass however, reveals Giovanni’s thirst for destruction, war and conquest, possessing Giovanni, who instead re-orders Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus to “Destroy all of Unova!”. Jessie and James are able to free Giovanni from the Reveal Glass’s control, and Team Rocket hastily retreats from Unova, leaving Ash and the others to deal with the rampaging Legendary Pokémon.

As Team Rocket retreats back to Kanto, Giovanni ponders aloud “To think my actions almost caused my own end…”

For the rest of Unova and most of Kalos, Giovanni’s role is greatly reduced, being informed of the downfall of Team Plasma and Team Flare respectively. Sometime later, Giovanni sends top members of the Team Rocket Combat Unit, the Matori Matrix, to Alola to investigate Ultra Wormholes.

In Journeys, Giovanni equips Jessie and James with the Rocket Prize Master, a machine used to dispense Pokémon for them to use.

You’ve probably noticed that Giovanni’s role in the anime, aside from a brief stint in Unova, has been largely as a background character since Johto. Giovanni’s greatest contribution to the Pokémon anime in terms of story came from his relationship with Mewtwo (which is not the case at all in the core series games. Team Rocket and Mewtwo have no connection at all in Pocket Monsters Red and Green), and without that, Giovanni really only appears as the Leader of Team Rocket and as the Boss of Jessie and James, not much more.

That said, Giovanni’s presence in the anime has affected the games. As shown in both Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and Pokémon Masters EX, Giovanni’s main Pokémon used is Mewtwo, and in the second set of Kanto remakes, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, dialogue is added between Giovanni and the Silph Company President, where Giovanni is shown to be interested in the Master Ball that the company created. The Master Ball was commonly used by players of the original Pocket Monsters Red and Green to catch Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave. It can be inferred that Giovanni planned to use the Master Ball to catch Mewtwo, which his counterpart succeeds in doing in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Giovanni and Ash

Another thing you also might have noticed in regard to the anime is how connected Giovanni is to the lore of the series. In the original core series games, Giovanni was little more than a one-note yardstick, mostly used for players to gauge their progress as they make their way through the game. Giovanni, and indeed Team Rocket’s actions, have little to no effect on the wider Pokémon world, or even to other characters outside of Kanto.

Compare this to the anime, where Team Rocket has direct ties to Mew and the creation of Mewtwo. Former top Team Rocket Agent Miyamoto was in fact Jessie’s mother, and that may be one of the reasons why Giovanni decided to keep her around for so long, despite his perceived failings of her and James, up until the end of Sinnoh. Additionally, Team Rocket (mostly through Jessie and James) is a consistent threat that appears across every Region featured in the anime. Compare this to Team Magma and Team Aqua, who only appear in Hoenn, or Team Galactic, who only appear in Sinnoh, for example.

The biggest thing to note, particularly in the original anime series, is how obscured Giovanni originally was. Until his reveal as the Viridian City Gym Leader to the audience during his Gym Battle with Gary, Giovanni was concealed in shadow, or his shots were framed from weird angles so the audience could never see his whole face. His voice was even altered for his first few appearances, really giving a sense of mystery to the character.

And then, right as the main character Ash has received his seventh Gym Badge, and is about to challenge the Viridian City Gym to earn his eighth Gym Badge, where he’d finally meet the man responsible for the attack on the St. Anne, and Jessie and James following him all over Kanto trying to steal his Pikachu, the Boss of Team Rocket and essentially the series’ main antagonist, Giovanni is called away from the Gym, and he and Ash don’t even have an opportunity to meet.

It’s the build-up leading to this moment, and then the moment itself, that rightly led a lot of audience members to wonder, why didn’t the writers want Ash and Giovanni to meet? After all, in the original core series games, the player meets Giovanni, and is made aware that he is both the Leader of Team Rocket and Gym Leader of Viridian City. Sure, the player defeats them, and Giovanni disbands Team Rocket, but the anime could easily have changed that to Giovanni declaring that “Team Rocket will never fall!” or something similar, before making his getaway from the Kanto Region, whilst continuing to operate from afar, as we’d see him do later in the series from Hoenn and beyond.

The whole thing led some audience members to believe that there was something between Giovanni and Ash specifically, and that was the reason why they held off on the reveal and interaction with each other. Whether seriously, half-heartedly, or jokingly, one of the theories that manifested was that Giovanni was, in fact, Ash’s father.

Ash’s father is an unnamed character who was mentioned in the second episode of the anime as someone who had gone on their own Pokémon Journey when they were younger. In supplementary material, “Pocket Monsters Departure”, a Japan-only novelisation, it was revealed that “Ash’s father was a Pokémon Trainer. He left town right after Ash was born and never came back.”

Many audience members took this information, together with the admittedly contrived circumstances for Giovanni and Ash not meeting in the anime, and concocted the idea that Giovanni was Ash’s father. While this has technically been disproven since then, due to Giovanni meeting Ash face to face in Johto and Unova, and the anime not making a big deal out of it, international material has played around with the idea of Giovanni and Ash’s mother Delia, being in a relationship.

Pokémon Live!

Pokémon Live! was a musical based on the Pokémon anime series that ran during the height of Pokémania. While the setting of course was based on the localised version of the anime (and indeed included many songs from the English Dub of the series), the story was an original one, penned by playwright Michael Slade.

The story focuses on Ash’s quest to win the mysterious Diamond Badge, not realising that the Diamond Badge is simply a ploy by Giovanni to allow his newest creation ‘MechaMew2’ to Battle against strong Pokémon and absorb their abilities.

What is perhaps most interesting about the story of Pokémon Live! is its focus on the characters of Giovanni and Delia. Delia’s character arc in the musical is her coming to the realisation that her son is growing up and learning to let go, and it’s revealed that she and Giovanni used to be “friends”, and that, when Delia met the man who would be Ash’s father, she “walked out” on him. She reveals this to Ash as he rescues her from Team Rocket, saying “A long time ago, before you were born, before I met your father… I was… friends with Giovanni when he was starting Team Rocket. It wasn’t for long. When I met your father, I left…”

Later, when Ash confronts Giovanni to rescue Pikachu, the following exchange occurs:

(ASH bursts into the headquarters)

ASH: I’m Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! Where’s my Pikachu?!

(The name “Ketchum” resonates for GIOVANNI. In his own mind, he puts it together that this must be DELIA’s son)

GIOVANNI: Ash “Ketchum.” You wouldn’t by any chance be Delia’s son?

ASH: Leave my mother out of this!

GIOVANNI: Your mother made a big mistake when she walked out on me.

(This strikes ASH)

ASH: Not as big a mistake as you made by stealing my Pikachu!

Of course, the story of Pokémon Live! is decidedly non-canon. The musical states that Delia was friends with Giovanni when he was “starting” Team Rocket, when in the anime canon, Giovanni inherited the role of Team Rocket Leader from his mother, Madame Boss, meaning the two versions of events cannot be reconciled.

Additionally, the overall events of the musical itself are never referred to in the English Dub of the anime series either, but it’s interesting that an external writer was able to expand on the backstories of both Delia and Giovanni, and add additional layers to the characters, when at that time both were fairly one-note in regard to the anime.

Conclusion / Personal Thoughts

In regards to the anime, outside of Mewtwo, I feel as though Giovanni is kind of wasted as a character. He really only shows up as a reminder that he exists and doesn’t do anything other than give orders to Jessie and James. This is an unpopular opinion, but I would have much rather preferred Giovanni and Team Rocket as a concept be retired come the end of Johto. That’s not to say I would want Team Rocket to disband, I just feel as though shoehorning Jessie and James into every plot and conflict with every other evil team from Hoenn onwards does nothing in service of Giovanni, and that Jessie and James’s recurrence doesn’t make much sense. I wouldn’t mind Team Rocket coming back into the spotlight for arcs like the Battle Frontier (which takes place in Kanto), but otherwise Team Rocket’s inclusion in the anime at this point feels rather forced.

When it comes to the games however, and again, this is very much a personal opinion, as you won’t find many fans fond of ‘end-of-the-world stakes’ when it comes to Pokémon, but I feel as though this new Team Rainbow / GO Rocket Giovanni makes for an interesting endgame concept, one final big Battle between Giovanni’s forces, comprised of all the key members, Admins and Team Leaders of every evil team ever across the core series, remakes and spin-off games, versus the forces of good (think a serious version of Red’s ‘single unified resistance’ from the Pokémon Rusty fan series). I think that would be an amazing last hurrah, if the franchise was ever going to end.

7. What is a Shiny? The history, the concept and stats through the Gens, and the general fan reaction to it.

Introduction

A Shiny Pokémon is an alternately-coloured version of a Pokémon, introduced in Generation II in PoGOld and Silver (highlighting one of the key features of the Game Boy Color, that it could display games in colour, as opposed to the Generation I games on the original Game Boy, which were monochromatic – I would consider this an important thing to mention, as each core series game highlights a specific advancement in hardware, or a new technology of some kind. PoGO, for example, focuses on AR/GPS/real-world gaming as its key feature).

In Gold and Silver, the player character encounters a guaranteed Shiny Pokémon (the Red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage) as part of the storyline. Otherwise, the ‘rate’ at which a Shiny Pokémon could be randomly encountered in the wild, hatched from Eggs, received from in-game Gifts etc. up until Generation V, was a 1/8192 chance.

How is a Shiny Pokémon encountered?

In Generation II, a Pokémon’s IVs (Individual Values) are what’s used to determine if a Pokémon is Shiny or not. If a Pokémon’s IVs are a certain number, the Pokémon will appear Shiny. If they are anything outside of this specific value, they won’t appear Shiny. It’s because of this that not only are Shiny Pokémon in this Generation typically stronger than those compared to other Shiny Pokémon from other Generations, but that you can Trade Pokémon from Generation II to I, and that Pokémon will retain its Shininess. You can additionally Trade Pokémon from Generation I to II, and discover that you’d caught a Shiny Pokémon without even realising it.

From Generation III onwards, the player’s Trainer ID, ‘Secret’ ID, and that Pokémon’s ‘personality value’ is what’s used to determine whether or not the Pokémon will appear Shiny. Because of this, they can have any normal number of IVs.

From Generation VI onwards, the base rate of encountering a Shiny Pokémon was changed, becoming 1/4096 chance, and has more or less remained that way since.

However, certain games do include ways of increasing your chances of obtaining Shiny Pokémon. The two biggest mainstays of this have been what’s called the ‘Masuda Method’ (named after one of the series producers, Junichi Masuda, where breeding Pokémon of two different languages, an English Pidgey and a German ‘Taubsi’, for example, increases the chance of producing a Shiny Pidgey as offspring. This was done to encourage global Trading, which was introduced back in Generation IV), and the Shiny Charm (upon completion of a Pokédex, National in Generation V and VI, Regional from VII onwards, you’ll be given an item that increases the rate at which Shiny Pokémon will appear. Again, this was done to encourage players to try and complete their Pokédex).

There have been other methods of increasing Shiny rates, or specific encounters that may be higher than others, but these are usually unique to a set of games and generally do not carry over into other games. That said, the Shiny Pokémon that are encountered using these methods retain their Shininess when Traded or transferred to others game, even if said method no longer exists. For example, an ‘IV-based’ Shiny caught in the Virtual Console versions of Generation II and transferred up into the newer games will still appear Shiny in those games as well.

Reception of Shiny Pokémon + Pros and Cons

The original overall fan reaction to Shiny Pokémon, I honestly cannot remember, as I was very young at the time. Aside from the Red Gyarados from Generation II, I had never seen a ‘full-odds’ Shiny until Generation III, when a friend of mine encountered a Shiny Electrike. And I myself had never caught / hatched / what-have-you, a Shiny Pokémon of my own, until I bred for my Shiny Hawlucha in Generation VI, which took me several months. Since then, the floodgates opened, and I have since been encountering Shiny Pokémon at a much more consistent rate.

However, that brings up a point of contention with Shiny Pokémon, in that they have been getting easier to obtain as the series has progressed, with multiple different methods of obtaining them being introduced as time has gone on, and so as a result, many players feel as though Shinies are worth less now than they were back in the day. For example, in Generation III, the encounter rate for a Shiny Pokémon was 1/8192, whereas in PoGO during a Community Day, the encounter rate for a Shiny Pokémon can be as high as 1/25.

The flipside to this is that Pokémon can easily be identified by their Origin Mark, which shows which game the Shiny Pokémon originally came from, so players can determine, in a general sense at least, what Shinies are ‘worth’ more than others.

Personal Thoughts

In my personal opinion, it’s difficult to put a value on Shiny Pokémon these days. The advent of online Trading meant that it became difficult to determine the legitimacy of a Pokémon. Players could generate their own Shiny Pokémon with external devices and then Trade them to unsuspecting players who might not know that they’re illegitimate. I feel as though generating your own Pokémon, whether they be Shiny, Mythical, Legendary or what-have-you, ruins the value the Pokémon has from a Pokéconomical perspective.

As such, I tend to view all Shiny Pokémon Traded to me where I can’t identify their legitimacy as automatically being illegitimate.

Acknowledgements / References

Various dialogues from core series games are noted, alongside the name(s) of the accompanying game(s) where appropriate.

Pokémon history for ‘The Old Pokémon World, Pre-Earth Drift’ uses excerpts from ‘Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia’ by Creatures Inc. as translated by Nob Ogasawara.

Giovanni and Mewtwo dialogue taken from ‘Mewtwo Strikes Back’ and ‘Mewtwo Returns’, Dub scripts written by Norman J. Grossfeld and Michael Haigney respectively. Original scripts by Takeshi Shudo.

‘Pocket Monsters Departure’ excerpt by Takeshi Shudo, as translated by Amanda Sato.

‘Pokémon Live!’ script written by Michael Slade.

Excerpt of dialogue exchange between Ash and Iris taken from Pokémon Season 14 Episode 3 ‘A Sandile Gusher of Change!’. Script adaptation by James Carter Cathcart.

Excerpt of dialogue exchange between Ash and Serena taken from Pokémon Season 19 Episode 28 ‘Seeing the Forest for the Trees’. Script adaptation by James Carter Cathcart.